ï»¿*****************************************
* *
* The Elder Scrolls: Chapter II *
* =---------------------------------= *
* D A G G E R F A L L *
* *
*****************************************
FAQ / Hints / Walkthrough
Completed: 27 Sept, 2007
Updated: 5 July, 2010
Updated: 8 July, 2010
Updated: 2 May, 2011
Updated: 31 May, 2014
Updated: 21 January, 2017
===============================================================================
|| Table of Contents Quick Search Code ||
===============================================================================
i --- Welcome to Daggerfall! 001
I --- Creating your Character 002
1. Your race 003
2. Your class 004
a. Attributes 005
b. Skills and Leveling up 006
c. Advantages and Disadvantages 007
d. The Difficulty Dagger 008
e. Reputation 009
3. Background generating questions 010
4. Rolling your Stats 011
5. The Controls, and Customizing Them 012
6. Escaping the Privateer's Hold 013
II -- Life in the Illiac Bay 014
1. Travel 015
2. Towns and Locations 016
3. Dialogue 017
4. Shops and Services 018
5. Crime and Punishment 019
III - Items 020
1. Weapons 021
2. Armor 022
3. Materials 023
4. Miscellaneous items 024
5. Artifacts 025
IV -- Magic 026
1. The Spellmaker 027
2. Schools and Effects 028
3. Enchantments 029
V --- Guilds 030
1. Membership and Advancement 031
2. Quests and Reputation 032
3. The Factions 033
VI -- Dungeons and Adventure 034
1. Combat 035
2. Tips on navigating dungeons 036
3. The infamous Void 037
4. Bestiary 038
5. Diseases 039
6. Vampirism 040
7. Lycanthropy 041
VII - The Main Story 042
01. Meeting Lady Brisienna 043
(Part I - The Missing Letter)
02. Morgiah's Letter 044
03. Cyndassa's Brother 045
04. Finding the Courier 046
05. The Lich's Soul 047
06. The Letter in Orsinium 048
07. What is the Mantella? 049
(Part II - Lysandus's Revenge)
08. A Missing Prince 050
09. The Painting 051
10. The Underking 052
11. Seeking Medora 053
12. Breaking the Curse 054
13. The Dust of Restful Death 055
14. Lysandus's Tomb 056
15. Woodborne Hall 057
(Part III - Numidium Reborn)
16. The Totem 058
17. Decisions 059
18. The Mantellan Crux 060
(Optional Quests)
19. Blackmail 061
20. Elysana's Gift 062
21. A Book for Barenziah 063
22. The Madness of Nulfaga 064
23. Mynisera's Letters 065
24. Elysana's Trap 066
===============================================================================
|| i - Welcome to Daggerfall! 001 ||
===============================================================================
"Prepare to experience your new obsession!" says the game box, and it could not
have been more correct. You are about to step into one of the largest game
worlds ever created. Hundreds of towns and dungeons, dozens of guilds, and an
infinite number of quests, Daggerfall will give you a whole new understanding
of "massive." Seriously, there are over 15,000 locations on the game map.
However, suffice it to say that writing a guide for this sort of game is much
different than writing for your typical RPG. Daggerfall, like all other Elder
Scrolls chapters, is completely open ended--you are simply dumped in a world
and left to do with it as you please. Sure, there's a main quest to follow
(which will be covered), but it is always more fun to ditch that story
altogether and go make your own. Join the guilds, raid the dungeons, explore
the various kingdoms of the bay--there's plenty to do.
Also, much of the game content is randomly generated. Monsters, loot, store
shelves, most NPCs are randomly generated; even quests are created from
templates. All of the town and dungeon layouts, however, were procedurally
generated during development--they'll always be the same for every game.
As such and apart from the main quest walkthrough, this guide will be largely
gameplay hints and strategies. I cannot tell you exactly where Object X will
be in that dungeon; but I can tell you what skills are best, which guilds have
the better services, how to make excellent and useful spells, and much, much
more.
Everything you read here is from my playing experience, which is extensive.
Any information presented here that came from other sources will be credited
in that section.
===============================================================================
|| I - Creating your Character 002 ||
===============================================================================
The character creation system in Daggerfall is robust. You have more control
over what your character is and is not than in any other RPG. Want a strong,
yet unpopular warrior, who is better than most with axes, excels at archery,
and is deathly afraid of the undead? You can do that. Or what about a
battlemage whose magic is more powerful in darkness, trains in both magic and
the arts of war, excels when fighting humans, and for whatever reason, cannot
bear to touch silvered equipment? You can do that too, and more.
===============================================================================
|| I.1 - Your Race 003 ||
===============================================================================
There are eight races in Daggerfall. Your choice of race is largely cosmetic
and has little effect on the game from a stats perspective. Your race
supposedly affects your starting attributes, but so does your class--and
through experimentation it seems that the class overrides any changes made by
your race. So it makes little difference what you choose here, so just pick
whichever race appeals to you.
There are two exceptions, however: Nords and High Elves. Nords get resistance
to frost and High Elves get immunity to paralysis.
You select you race by choosing a home province, and then you may select your
gender (which is entirely cosmetic).
Province: Race: Special trait:
------------------------------------------------------------
High Rock Bretons none
Hammerfell Redguards none
Skyrim Nords Resistace to Frost magic
Morrowind Dark Elves none
Sumurset Isle High Elves Immunity to Paralysis
Valenwood Wood Elves none
Elsweyr Khajiit none
Black Marsh Argonians none
------------------------------------------------------------
The Imperial province has no playable race, as it is considered a melting pot
of all the playable races.
===============================================================================
|| I.2 - Your Class 004 ||
===============================================================================
Now THIS is the meat of character creation. Here is where you'll get to really
customize yourself, by adjusting your starting attributes, selecting all your
class skills, advantages, disadvantages, etc.
When selecting a class, you can choose a premade class or, at the bottom of the
list, choose to create a custom class. Believe me when I tell you that you
should never even bother with the premade classes; why would you want to
anyways, when you can make exactly the character you want with a custom class?
===============================================================================
|| I.2a - Attributes 005 ||
===============================================================================
We'll start off with the Attributes. Along the left side of the screen you will
see the eight Primary Attributes for your character. By clicking first on the
score and then on the arrows that appear, you can adjust their starting
value--just remember that if you add to one attribute, you'll have to take from
another.
Attribute: Affects:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Strength The damage you deal in combat and how much you can carry. Any
character can benefit from a high Strength score. Being able
to carry more loot and equipment is always helpful.
Skills governed: Axe, Blunt Weapon, Climbing, and Jumping.
Intelligence How much Magicka you have to cast spells with. Magic-using
characters should always bump up their Intelligence a bit.
Skills governed: all Languages, Lockpicking, and Medical.
Willpower Willpower is paramount for offensive spellcasting characters.
It affects how well you resist magical attacks, which is good
for everyone, but also how difficult your own spells are to
resist. Combat wizards want a really high willpower. Willpower
also affects how quickly your magicka restores while you rest;
so if you plan to have a ton of magicka, this will ensure you
don't have to rest as long to recover it.
Skills governed: All schools of magic.
Agility Your chance of hitting an opponent and avoiding attacks. Hitting
and not getting hit being the two most important things in
combat, this is clearly a good stat for ALL characters.
Skills governed: Archery, Critical Strike, Hand-to-Hand, Long
Blade, Pickpoket, and Short Blade.
Endurance Your amount of Health, healing rate, and disease and poison
resistance. Having a higher healing rate is nice because you
won't have to rest as long to heal up. However, if all you want
is more health, then don't bother here, but add points to the
"Max Hit Points per Level" box (which we will discuss later).
Endurance also determines how long you can hold your breath
while underwater.
Skills governed: Swimming.
Personality How positively people react to you. If there's a stat that
doesn't really matter so much, it's this one. Yes, people
will respond better to your questions in dialog, and they might
offer you better prices for goods and services, but let's be
realistic. For one, there are TONS of NPCs in the game; if one
doesn't respond well, the next one will. For two, money is
rarely an issue for ANY Daggerfall character. Just don't bother
with personality; if you want to bump it down 10, 20, or even
30 points in order to boost other stats, you go right ahead.
Skills governed: Ettiquette, Merchantile, and Streetwise
Speed How fast you move, including attack speed. Moving quickly saves
time and ensures you can outrun your enemies (and, more
importantly, the city guards). Also, a character with a high
speed score can dish out a lot of attacks very quickly; this
is a definite advantage in combat.
Skills governed: Dodging and Running.
Luck Everything you do in a small way. Luck plays a small role in
every calculation the game makes, such as what loot you find.
That said, how you treat your Luck score is up to you; I often
just leave it at 50 and never touch it.
Skills governed: None.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
As you can tell, having higher attributes grants bonuses in certain areas.
However, it is important to note that some of these bonuses increase with every
point of attribute you gain, and some only on increments of 10. For instance,
each point of Strength will add to your weight limit, and every point of
Intelligence will add to your maximum amount of magicka. However, your bonus to
resisting magic will only increase every 10 points above or below 50, and the
same goes for Strength and your damage bonus in combat.
Also, these scores are not set in stone for character generation; when you
actually roll your character later on, your final attribute scores will be
these values + 1d10 points. You'll also get between 6-14 bonus points to
allocate as you desire.
* Here is a handy chart summarizing how important each attribute is to the
three main archetypes: warrior, rogue, mage.
Attribute Warrior Rogue Mage
-------------------------------------
STR *** **
INT ***
WIL * ***
AGI *** *** *
END *** **
PER
SPD ** *** *
LUC
-------------------------------------
* Looking for a stat to dump? If you want to seriously boost one of your more
desireable attributes, you'll have to reduce others to make up the difference.
You can dock an attribute down to as low as 10 and raise it as high as 75.
Popular and more-or-less harmless attributes to seriously ditch are PER and
LUC. If you aren't using much magic (or not offensively) you can dump WIL, and
if you're not using magic at all: INT can go, too.
STR, AGI, and END are attributes that you don't neccessarily have to put many
points into, but taking away too much isn't very wise either.
===============================================================================
|| I.2b - Skills and leveling up 006 ||
===============================================================================
Next you will select the skills that are important to your class. There are
35 skills in Daggerfall; you will select 12 of them for your class:
3 Primary skills, starting in the high 20s/low 30s.
3 Major skills, starting in the low 20s.
6 Minor skills, starting around 14.
You can still use and advance in the remaining skills you did not pick, but
they will start out low (5), improve slowly, and not contribute to leveling up.
Listed with each skill is the Governing Attribute for that skill. Having a high
governing attribute will give you bonuses when using that skill and make it
improve faster.
* Weapon skills: it is important to have at least one melee weapon skill,
but there is rarely any reason to take more than one. Taking Archery or Hand
to Hand to supplement your primary weapon skill can be very useful.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Axe Axes come in only two varieties: one handed and two handed.
(STR) Makes for a fairly boring weapon skill, but if you like axes,
go for it. Axes are durable and deal decent amounts of damage.
Unfortunately, axes are also less commonly found than the other
weapons. But they look cool.
Blunt Weapon Blunts are the hardiest weapons in the game; you'll rarely have
(STR) your warhammer break on you. On top of that, blunt weapons are
the only weapons that deal full damage to Undead creatures--all
others deal only half damage. That and flails look awesome.
Blunt weapons house the second best weapon in the game: the
two-handed warhammer.
Short Blade The lightest and quickest weapons, short blades are also the
(STR) frailest and deal the least damage. However, they are light
enough that it is easy to carry multiple backup weapons. If your
character prefers to travel light, short blades are for you.
Long Blade Long blades deal the most damage, but are not as durable as axes
(STR) or blunt weapons. They also seem to be the most commonly found
weapons in the game. Long blade is home to the best weapon in
the game: the daikatana.
Archery Archery can be very powerful, even in the narrow corridors of
(AGI) dungeons. It is also very easy to deal backstabbing attacks
with bows. Because ranged magic attacks can be hard to aim,
archery is often the best way to pick off foes from a distance.
There is also a handy bug where you can shoot arrow through most
doors, easily killing enemies on the other side. Hah!
Hand to Hand The art of unarmed combat. Damage is rather low, but your fists
(AGI) never wear out or break, and they can damage any monster, even
if it has a material requirement, such as silver. H2H makes for
a reliable backup weapon. If you plan on becoming a Lycanthrope,
having a good H2H skill will make you even more unbelievably
dangerous than you already are.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
* Magic Skills: Regardless of class, most adventurers of any mettle tend to
study a little magic. It opens up many abilities that can save your skin or
save you a lot of time and sweat. That said: it is possible to play, enjoy, and
complete the game without any magic whatsoever. We'll have more info on the
magic system later on in the guide.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Alteration This is the most useful school of magic by far. Water walking
(WIL) and water breathing will make underwater areas--which are
usually quite troublesome--a breeze. Free Action will save your
skin from paralyzing enemies. And finally, alteration also
boasts some protection and resistance spells.
However! If all that interests you here are the water walking
and breathing spells, then deviting a skill slot to Alteration
is not necessary. Those spells are cheap enough to cast without
much skill in the school. Same goes for Free Action. Basically,
you only have to take Alteration if you want the protection
and resistance spells.
Destruction You blow stuff up with this school; there's not really much else
(WIL) to say. At high levels you can toss around some extremely
powerful stuff with impunity. Personally, I'm not much for
offensive magic, as ranged spells are hard to aim correctly;
but if you see yourself enjoying blasting apart your enemies,
be my guest and devote some time to this school.
Your own willpower score affects how difficult your spells are
to resist, so definitely boost your willpower score as high as
it can go. A resisted spell is wasted magicka!
Illusion Every stealthy character is made even more stealthy with this
(WIL) school of magic. There aren't many spells for this school, but
illusion spells are incredibly useful. Make youself invisible
and waltz right past your enemies--or, you know, hack them to
bits while their friends don't notice. Hah!
Mysticism There are two very useful spells in this school. One is Recall,
(WIL) which allows you to teleport back to an "anchor" you set with
the same spell. The other useful spell here is Open--and that
is an VERY useful spell, because Lockpicking is difficult to
train. However, both of these spells are easy enough to pull
off with a low skill level, so taking this school as a class
skill isn't entirely necessary--just note that if you don't
take this skill, make sure you end up with at least 70 or 80
magicka, which the the max cost for Recall.
Restoration Being able to heal your wounds during combat is going to
(WIL) save your life more times than you'll care to count. Potions
are not as ubiquitous as they are in many other games, so
restoration magic is usually the primary way to heal your
wounds when you cannot rest. Restoration is also home to
magical resistance and absorption spells, as well as
fortification spells to boost your attributes.
Every character can benefit from taking this skill.
Thaumaturgy Thaumaturgy would be worthwhile to take for Levitation alone, as
(WIL) it is by far the most useful spell in the game. Also in this
school is Spell Reflection, which can help turn enemy spells
against their masters. While Levitation is simple enough to cast
without a high skill level, Spell reflection is not.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
* A quick note: Guilds have skill requirements to join and advance. This is
most noticeable and problematic for the Mages Guild, as if you don't have
magical skills high enough, you won't be able to join. If you plan on joining
the mages guild, you should place at least one school of magic as a Primary
skill, just so it starts high enough to join the guild as quickly as possible.
Also, here is a list of the spell effect for each school:
------------------------------------------------------------------
(ALTERATION) (ILLUSION) (RESTORATION)
Climbing Chameleon Cure
Elemental Resistance Invisibility Fortify Attribute
Free Action Light Heal
Jumping Shadow Regenerate
Paralyze Spell Absorption
Shield (MYSTICISM) Spell Resistance
Slowfall Comprehend Languages Transfer
Water Breathing Create Item
Water Walking Detect (THAUMATURGY)
Dispel Charm
(DESTRUCTION) Identify Levitate
Continuous Damage Lock Pacify
Damage Open Spell Reflection
Disintegrate Silence
Drain Soul Trap
Teleport
------------------------------------------------------------------
* Other skills: Let's face it, you won't be able to fill your 12 slots with
weapons and magic, will you? Well, I suppose you could, but...
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Languages Centaurian, daedric, dragonish, giantish, harpy, impish, nymph,
(INT) orcish, and spriggan. Don't get your hopes up--there is no real
conversing with monsters in this game. All the language skills
do is give you a chance that the creature will not attack you,
assumably by talking to it. A hint: Don't have you weapon out
when trying to talk to them; they'll take offense instantly and
attack you.
Another hint: Don't bother with these skills at all.
They are pointless. If you don't want the nasty orc to attack
you, just kill it; then you can take its stuff. On the other
hand, some of these monsters can be very difficult foes. Like
spriggans--ugh, I hate spriggans. So being able to talk your
way past them without having to kill them can be very nice
indeed. Also, some players simply enjoy the roleplaying aspect
of choosing a language skill. New players just skip these.
Backstabbing Ah, the favored skill of assassins. Anytime you hit someone
(AGI) from behind this skill is checked; and if successful, you can
dish out a lot of damage. For obvious reasons, this one goes
hand in hand with stealth. Archery is also good at backstabbing.
Stealth Ah, the OTHER favored skill of sneaky people. It's always to
(AGI) your advantage to get the first strike, especially if it helps
you get a backstab attack on them. Also, NOT attracting the
attention of wandering monsters in a dungeon is always a good
idea.
Stealth works like this: the skill is checked automatically
when you come into range of an enemy. It doesn't matter if you
are walking or running, you can still successfully sneak up on
someone unawares, but you get bonuses for moving slowly. So
walking is better than running and sneaking better than walking.
A wonderful skill to pair with Illusion magic!
Lockpicking Ah, the OTHER other... Wait a minute, this skill sucks! Not
(AGI) kidding, this one is the worst. Not only is it amazingly slow
to train but you often only get one attempt per door (exterior
and dungeon doors only; you can make as many attempts as you
want on interior town doors--but the guards will be called
immediately on the second try). It's not that lockpicking in
itself is a bad idea, just that this game does a poor job of
implementing it.
Luckily there are other ways through locked doors. You can magic
them open with the Mysticism spell Open, or you can bash them
open with your weapon or fist. Note that even the weakest Open
spell will open any door in any town, and anyone can cast it. As
for bashing, try not to do it in towns--it's noisy and alerts
the guards; as for bashing doors in dungeons, sure it's still
noisy, but who cares?
Suffice it to say that the lockpicking skill sucks and you can
get by far better with the Open spell or a good bashing.
Remember that bashing doors puts some serious wear and tear on
your weapon, so carry a spare or switch to your fists.
Pickpocket Pickpocketing is also useless. You can pickpocket people--and
(AGI) monsters, humorously enough. Of course, you'll only get a few
pieces of gold at best. The other thing Pickpocket governs is
shoplifting, which you should NEVER do. For one, you'll rarely
succeed, even with 100 skill; for two it's much easier and
profitable to just break in at night and swipe the entire
contents of the store. We'll talk more about that in the Crime
section, so stay tuned.
Crit. Strike Each time you hit something in combat, this skill is checked to
(AGI) see if you made a Critical strike--dealing more damage than
usual. The higher the skill, the more often this happens. Anyone
who plans on getting into fights with weapons can benefit from
this skill, which by the way is everyone.
Dodging Dodging helps you avoid attacks in combat, which is most helpful
(SPD) if you don't plan on wearing much armor. You can always do your
own dodging, by just moving out of range when they are about to
attack, but that tactic doesn't always work so well in tight
corridors or when surrounded by enemies. This is a nice skill
to have around.
Climbing You will find climbing very useful, especially if you cannot use
(STR) levitation magic. Arriving to a city at night only to find the
gates shut in your face is not problem if you can just scale the
city walls and hop in. Note that in order to complete the main
story, you must be able to levitate or climb.
Climbing is done by facing a wall as perpendicularly as you can,
and walking into it. Within a few seconds, you should begin to
scale the wall.
Jumping As the name suggests, this skill governs your ability to jump.
(STR) Doesn't sound that glamorous, no, but there are many times
you'll encounter pitfalls in dungeons that you'll either have
to levitate over or jump over (or fall into, of course). Note
that if you cannot levitate, you also must be able to jump well
to complete the main story.
Running Also an easy one, this one helps you run faster. The benefits
(SPD) should be obvious: the faster you can run, the better you can
outrun the city guards (seriously, who else do you run from?).
Certainly not going to kill you to leave this one out, but if
you have a slot you need filled, it's a fine choice.
Swimming I don't really have to explain what this skill does, right?
(END) There are plenty of underwater areas you can encounter in
dungeons, some of them quite extensive. Having a good skill here
can help you survive them, because let me tell you: underwater
areas are dangerous. You'll move very slowly and sink straight
to the bottom if you are carrying too much junk--and by "too
much junk" I mean anything over half your encumbrance. So while
you are fighting aqueous monsters and trying to explore the
area, your breath meter will rapidly deplete until you die.
So having a decent swimming skill is helpful, but then again,
if you have Alteration and can cast water breathing and water
walking, these areas are a walk in the park--er, pond. And to
be honest, even characters with no alteration skill whatsoever
can cast those two spells, provided you made them in the weakest
version possible with the Spellmaker (which we'll get to later).
Etiquette There are two dialog skills, Etiquette and Streetwise. When
& speaking to people, you can choose to speak with a Normal,
Streetwise Polite, or Blunt tone. Polite (Etiquette) is best used with
(PER) well-spoken people such as nobles; Blunt (Streetwise) is best
with the common peasants and unsavory sorts. You can often get
more information out of people if you speak like they do--on the
other hand, there are a LOT of people wandering around the
cities; if one person won't give you any information, chances
are the next one will, or the next, or the next.
These skills also play a role in the legal system. If you are
arrested and plead "not guilty", you will be given the chance to
either debate your innocence or just flat out lie to the judge.
Debating involves Etiquette, lying uses Streetwise. With a good
skill in one of these, you can get off easy.
We'll go into more depth with Dialog and Crime later on.
Mercantile This one will help you in your bartering, ensuring you'll get
(PER) better deals when buying and selling stuff. There'll be lots of
buying and selling in the game, so this could be worthwhile;
could be, if money were ever an issue in this game. No, you
will be hauling in quite a bit of cash without the aid of
mercantile, so you can definitely do without this one.
Medical And finally, we come to medical. This skill helps you heal
(INT) faster so that it takes less time to rest and recover your
health, magicka, and fatigue. Because all quests have time
limits, it can be a bad thing if you spend too much time
resting; a high skill here can cut your naptimes shorter and let
you get on with the adventuring. Still not THAT cool of a skill.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
***************
* Leveling up *
***************
While we're talking about skills, we might as well talk about leveling up.
Daggerfall employs a use-based system; as you practice your skills, you will
get better at them. The more you use a skill, the faster it will improve.
Improving your class skills will contribute to when you level up; when you
level up, you will gain more health and get between 4 and 6 points to add to
your attributes as you see fit.
* When does a skill increase? In order for any one of your skills to increase,
you must meet all of the following criteria:
1. You must have used the skill enough; the amount you have to use to improve
the skill increases exponentially as your skill grows. For instance, it will
take much more practice to raise a skill from 59 to 60 than it did 14 to 15.
Unfortunately, the game does not show your progress toward raising any skill.
2. It must have been at least 6 hours since the last time you raised the skill.
3. Finally, you must have just finished resting or traveling. Your skill will
not increase immediately once you have practiced enough; your character must
have had time to rest and reflect on what they have learned.
* When do you level up? Well, that's a little complicated. The game does not
present any information on how long it will be before you level up, and the
equation itself is a tad involved. Basically, the game tracks your 3 Primary
skills, your top 2 Majors, and your single highest Minor skill. When the
combined value of these skills has changed by 15 points, you level up; the
only exception is that it only takes 2 skill raises to reach level 2.
It is best if you just don't think about it; your skills will increase when
they increase, you will level up when you level up. It is supposed to be a
natural progression, so treat it as such.
===============================================================================
|| I.2c - Advantages and Disadvantages 007 ||
===============================================================================
Here is where you can really make your character interesting. Either by giving
them fun gifts and abilities, or by cursing them with neat restrictions, or a
mixture of both. With the Advantages and Disadvantages, you can make your
character truly unique, so go wild.
Advantages
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Acute Hearing This advantage allows you to hear creatures from farther
away. If you are on a quest to hunt for a particular
critter, then this can help you to locate them, assuming
you know what they sound like. Kinda helpful, but you can
usually hear the creatures from a decent distance anyways.
Still, this is one of my favorite advantages, because I do
very much like to hear that stupid imp I'm hunting before
I go trudging through the entire dungeon looking for it.
Adrenaline Rush When you get low on health, this will give you a boost to
your speed, chance to hit, damage output, etc. Really,
though, when you get low on health, it's a better idea to
run away and heal than to keep fighting. This advantage
isn't all that advantageous. Still, if you like the
berserking aspect of it, go right ahead.
Athleticism This one makes you lose less fatigue from taking actions
like running and jumping. Since fatigue does not recover
on its own, and when you run out of fatigue you pass out
(and usually get eaten), this one could be a good choice;
except that if you are going that long without resting,
you have other issues. A quick nap is more than enough to
recover your fatigue, and Restoration has spells to
recover it very quickly as well.
Bonus to Hit Animals, daedra, humanoid, or undead. Make your choice and
you'll be better at hitting those foes. Assassins would be
wise to choose Humanoid here, as all of the assassin
quests involve killing humans. For reference, the variety
of enemies is roughly 25% animal, 8% daedra, 51% humanoid,
and 15% undead. That said, the daedra and undead are the
ones that hurt the most; human enemies, who are a large
portion of the humanoid category, are also dangerous as
they continue to scale somewhat to your level. The best
choice here is Humanoid or Undead.
Immunity Disease, fire, frost, magic, paralysis, poison, or shock.
Pick one, and it will never bother you again. Keep in mind
that being immune to "magic" here refers only to spells
that do not fall into the other categories. Also note that
Immunity, Resistance, Low Tolerance and Critical Weakness
are all mutually exclusive: you cannot take two for the
same type of magic. This is an expensive advantage, for
obvious reasons; the best choice is Paralysis, as it is by
far the most annoying and deadly spell to be under.
Remember that High Elves are already immune to Paralysis.
Increased Magery 1x, 1.5x, 1.75x, 2x, or 3x INT as your maximum amount of
magicka. If you plan on using magic AT ALL, you should
take 3x right now--there is no reason not to. More magicka
means more spells. When you are deep in a dungeon and
cannot rest safely, you'll be glad you have more magicka
to work with. The base muliplier is 0.5x.
Rapid Healing In general, in darkness, or in light. This will allow your
character to heal faster when resting. Note that "light"
means outside in the daytime, where "darkness" refers to
everywhere else: nighttime, inside buildings, and, most
importantly, in dungeons. You will be spending the vast
majority of your time in darkness, so there is little
reason to ever take Light or General. Also, this advantage
serves as an excellent substitute for the Medical skill.
Regenerate Health In general, in darkness, in light, or in water. This gifts
your character with slow, constant regeneration of their
health under the specified condition. Again, like Rapid
Healing, in Darkness is your best option; however, taking
this advantage in General can also be beneficial, as it
will also regenerate your health while in towns (where
you can only rest in taverns, certain guilds, or a
purchased house).
Resistance Disease, fire, frost, magic, paralysis, poison, or shock.
This will give you increased protection against the chosen
type of magic. Disease and poison are the least of your
worries, as spells, potions, or a trip to a temple will
take care of any afflictions you encounter--just don't
wait to long; Daggerfall diseases are no joking matter.
Spell Absorption In general, in darkness, or in light. Ah, now this is a
powerful advantage to have. With Spell Absorption, you
have a chance of absorbing enemy spells, converting
them harmlessly into magicka, recovering some of your
reservoir. This certainly helps in dungeons, where it is
often difficult to find a safe place to rest; by absorbing
enemy spells, you can refill your magicka without resting.
Did you know you can be caught in your own
spell's blast radius? Oh yes, and you can easily hurt
yourself very badly if you aren't careful with your area-
based spells. Interestingly enough, with this advantage,
you can absorb your own spell, recovering its magicka;
oh, and it'll still hurt anyone nearby, too. See where I'm
going with this? Walk up to an enemy and cast a fireball
at your feet; you'll hurt him AND you'll reabsorb the
magicka it took to cast the spell, which you can use to
recast that spell again. Repeat until he's toast. Yes,
it's horribly cheap, and you're probably abusing the
system; but if you don't care about that, well, you can
become fairly unstoppable.
There's a downside to this, of course. You see, if you
absorb more magicka than you can contain (that is, going
above your maximum amount of magicka), you overload and
take magicka burn--which hurts a lot, and is often
outright fatal. Yes, absorbing spells can kill you. This
means that if you go up against a powerful spellcasting
enemy, you can overload rather quickly and kill yourself.
This advantage, therefore, requires you to monitor your
magicka to keep from going over.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Disadvantages: I often find that it is your character's flaws and restrictions
that make him or her worthwhile to play, moreso than their gifts or advantages.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Critical Weakness Disease, fire, frost, magic, paralysis, poison, or shock.
Make your choice here, and it will be your bane. A safe
choice is disease, as it only increases your chance of
contracting a disease, not the effects of the illness.
High Elves should feel free to pick Paralysis as their
weakness, because they are already immune to it. Hah!
Damage From holy places, or from sunlight. You will take damage
from prolonged exposure in these areas or conditions. The
temples aren't such a problem if you don't plan on joining
one; if you are quick, you can even run in and get cured
of your diseases without taking too much damage. As for
the sunlight... well, this makes it more difficult to
visit the guilds and merchants. Daylight shines from 6:00
to 18:00 (Daggerfall uses a 24 hour clock). Most shops are
open from 9:00 to 20:00. Of course, on an overcast day,
you'll take less damage, and if you run quickly you can
often run from establishment to establishment in order to
make your way about safely in sunlight. But the case
remains that it is more difficult to go shopping when you
take damage from sunlight; you also cannot travel during
the daytime hours, because you are taking damage. Still,
this is a disadvantage that will drastically change your
playing style, making for a very interesting character.
Darkness Magery Lowered ability in light, or unable in light. This in an
interesting one. What this does is either lower your
maximum amount of magicka or remove it entirely when in
light. Again, "light" refers to being outside in daylight,
and that is a small percentage of the game; the vast
majority of the time you will be in darkness. So this can
be a rather safe disadvantage to take.
Forbidden Armor Chain, leather, or plate. Keep this in mind: There is one
type of leather armor, and it sucks. There is one kind of
chain armor, and it also sucks (still better than leather,
of course). Also, only plate armor comes in different
materials. This means that all the best armor in the game
is plate. Furthermore, wearing armor does not inhibit your
sneaking or spellcasting in any way. It's heavy, yes, so
it will slow you down a little and hog some of your weight
allowance, but that's it. In short, there is little reason
not to wear armor.
Restricting yourself from leather or chain will only be
annoying for the absolute beginning of the game;
restricting yourself of plate will haunt you the entire
life of your character--unless you are eschewing armor for
roleplaying purposes.
Forb. Material From lowest to highest: iron, steel, silver, elven,
dwarven, mithril, adamantium, ebony, orcish, daedric.
Pick a material; you cannot use any weapons or armor of
that material. You'll be safe nixing silver or orcish as
they are so rare that you'll rarely find them anyway. Iron
or steel will make things difficult at the beginning.
Forb. Shield Buckler, round, kite, or tower. This should be pretty self
explanatory. You would be safe forbidding yourself from
bucklers or tower shields; the former because it's just
not very protective, and the latter for weight concerns.
Honestly, though, shields aren't all that great in the
first place, as all of the best weapons are two-handed.
Forb. Weaponry Any weapon skill. Considering that you will likely never
try to use any weapon but the ones you have chosen for
your class, you can feel free to limit yourself from any
and all the others. Oddly enough, even though you can
select Hand to Hand for this disadvantage, it doesn't do
anything.
Inability to Inability to regain spell points. This is a difficult one
Regain Spell to play with. If you take this and still plan on using
Points magic, you MUST take the Spell Absorption advantage--
because with this you cannot regain magicka when resting!
Light Magery Lowered ability in darkness, or unable in darkness. You
should never, under any circumstance, take this. As said
before, you are going to be in darkness for most of the
game; unless you are deliberately cutting yourself off
from magic altogether, this is a terrible disadvantage.
Low Tolerance Disease, fire, frost, magic, paralysis, poison, or shock.
The lesser version of Critical Weakness. There's not much
else to say than that.
Phobia Of animals, daedra, humanoid, or undead. Take this one
with caution. You will have more trouble hitting and deal
less damage to the chosen creature type. Furthermore, they
will have LESS trouble hitting you, and deal you MORE
damage than usual. That goes for magic as well; your
spells will be less effective against them, and theirs
more against you.
Animals are on the whole the weakest creature type, so
they are a less dangerous choice. Daedra are very powerful
to begin with, so making them more difficult sounds like a
bad idea; however, they are also the least common enemy
you will meet. Choosing Humanoid or Undead is a very
brave, and probably foolish, choice; They are both
powerful and plentiful.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
===============================================================================
|| I.2d - The Difficulty Dagger 008 ||
===============================================================================
So what's the point in choosing disadvantages? Well, you see that bar with the
dagger on it? That is the Difficulty Dagger. Choosing advantages makes it go
up; choosing disadvantages makes it go back down. This is important because you
cannot proceed unless the dagger is somewhere in the middle, out of the red
zones at the top and bottom. That means that there is a limit to the number of
advantages you can give your character--but you can add more advantages if you
also give you character some disadvantages as well.
Now, some advantages and disadvantages move the dagger more than others, all
depending on how great an effect they have on the game. For instance, choosing
Regenerate Health is going to bump the dagger up a lot more than choosing Acute
Hearing. Also, the secondary choices have varying effects as well on the
dagger: Regenerate Health in General moves it more than Regenerate Health in
Darkness. So you will have to choose just what advantages are the most
important to you, and which disadvantages you can stomach to get what you want.
There is one more thing that affects the Difficulty Dagger: the Max Hit Points
per Level box. The more hit points you give yourself per level, the higher the
dagger goes. So if you want a lot of Health, you're going to have to give
yourself some serious disadvantages to make up for that bonus.
[!] Where the Difficulty Dagger lies on the graph also has an effect on your
game. The higher the dagger, the more you have to practice your skills to
improve them; the lower the dagger, the less you have to practice. So if the
dagger is high, your character will advance more slowly than if the dagger was
low.
These are double-edged swords, of course. Naturally, progressing slowly can be
irritating; however, if you progress too quickly, you will begin to meet
stronger monsters before you have had time to collect worthy equipment. It's
your choice, but often the best place is near the middle of the graph.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
===============================================================================
|| I.2e - Reputations 009 ||
===============================================================================
Finally, the last part of creating your class is to set your reputations with
some of the various factions. There are hundreds of factions in the game; these
are but the largest and most common. You may alter how much these factions like
or dislike you by clicking in the graphs. Just remember that the total must be
equal to zero. If you give 5 points to one, you must take 5 points from
another.
Merchants: These represent all the merchants and shopkeepers in the game.
Naturally, if they like you more, they will give you better deals when buying
of selling items. Of course, money is so rarely a problem in Daggerfall, that
getting better deals may not be all that prudent. Merchants also offer quests,
however, so making them hate you too much may cut off this source of adventure.
Peasants: You will often be interacting with the commoners, especially those
who wander around the towns. You will need to ask directions of them, find out
the services in their town, ask where to find work, etc. If they do not like
you enough, they will often refuse to talk to you altogether. As such, it is
usually a bad idea to make this faction hate you. On the other hand, there
isn't a whole lot to gain by them loving you either.
Scholars: Scholars include the Mages Guild and all Temples, among others. If
you plan on joining either of these guilds, best to make them love you from the
start. If you don't plan on joining either, it won't hurt to bump their opinion
of you down a bit so you can boost another reputation.
Nobility: These guys aren't all that important. Sure, you can get quests from
them, but they often aren't as worthwhile as other sources. Unless you have
roleplaying reasons for supporting the nobles, feel free to make these guys
hate you.
Underworld: The thieves, assassins, and criminals of the Illiac Bay. If you
plan on falling in with these unsavory sorts, it can be to your benefit to get
on their good side early on. As for letting them hate you, well, these
underworld types are known to ambush those who cross them, which could be seen
as a bad thing.
That's it! Your class is finished. Don't forget to give it a name. Some NPCs
will refer to you by your name, race, or even your class, so your choice of
class name does have an affect!
===============================================================================
|| I.3 - Background Generating Questions 010 ||
===============================================================================
Now that your class is constructed, the game will ask you 12 questions that
will help flesh out your character. They will range from "what have you been
studying the longest?" and "what god do your worship, if any?" to "What are you
the worst at?" and "Whom do you despise more than usual?"
In general, the effect that each answer you give should be fairly obvious. If
you say you have been spent the most time studying archery, you will begin with
a slightly higher skill in archery. If you say you worship Julianos, then your
reputation with that temple will be a little higher.
There are a few things to look out for:
1. One of the questions you can be asked involves the Emperor giving you an
item; If you can answer "An ebony dagger," do so--even if you don't use short
blades this will sell for a ton of gold. If you do plan on using short blades,
then this is an excellent weapon that will serve you well for a long time.
2. Other than the ebony dagger, or possibly the silver flail, do not bother
with asking for weapons or armor. Answering that the Emperor gave you a full
suit of armor will net you a full suit of IRON armor, the worst plate in the
game. Rest assured that you will be decked out in at least leather, chain, or
iron by the time you exit the starter dungeon; From there, a quick stop at an
Armorer shop and you can buy/steal enough to be adequately protected. Instead,
choose books or gems, things that look like they would sell for a lot. It's
always nice to have more money at the beginning.
3. There is a slight bug involved with choosing "Critical Weakness to Disease"
as a special disadvantage, and also saying that you "have the most trouble
Resisting Diseases." Apparently, these choices conflict with each other, and
the end result is that you are virtually immune to diseases altogether (don't
worry, you can still contract vampirism or lycanthropy, if that is your goal).
===============================================================================
|| I.4 - Rolling your Stats 011 ||
===============================================================================
Now that your class is constructed and your background generated, you will get
to name your character and choose his or her face. Then you will proceed to
rolling your attributes. As noted earlier, the scores you see now are the ones
you set earlier + 1d10 points. Along side your attributes you will see the
bonus points that you may also distribute as you wish.
* If you do not like the scores you see, you may click the "Reroll" button as
much as you wish. You can also use the save and load roll buttons to store and
recall values as you search for the best set of values.
To the side of your attributes you will see other stats that are affected by
those attributes. Each box is situated beside the attribute that affects it.
Dam: Your damage bonus in combat. This increases with every 10 points
of Strength.
Max Enc: Your encumbrance, or how much you can carry. This is equal to
1.5 * your Strength.
Spell Points: You maximum amount of Magicka, which increases with every point
of Intelligence. The base rate is 0.5 * INT, however, this may
change depending on whether you took the Increased Magery
special advantage.
Magic Resist: Your bonus to resisting magic. Increases with every 10 points
of Willpower.
To Hit: Your bonus to your rolls to hit enemies in combat. Increases
with every 10 points of Agility.
Hit Pts: You bonus to the health you gain per level. Increases with
every 10 points of Endurance.
Healing Rate: Your bonus to the amount of health you regain per hour of rest.
Increases with every 10 points of Endurance.
As you can see, most of these bonuses increase only on multiples of 10; so
when distributing your bonus points, it may be wise to go ahead and bump a few
of these attributes up to 60, 70 or whatever, just to get that extra little
bonus to your rolls.
After you set your Attributes, you can move ahead to add some bonus points to
your skills. You will get 6 points each to distribute among each group of
skills: Primary, Major, and Minor.
That's it! Your finished with character creation. Now it's time to watch the
introductory videos and start the game.
===============================================================================
|| I.5 - The Controls, and Customizing Them 012 ||
===============================================================================
Now that you're in the game, it's prime time to learn the controls. By default,
the game uses a mouse-based interface. As you move the mouse
towards the edges it will turn from an X into an arrow; clicking will move or
turn your character in that direction. The closer you are to the edge, the
faster you will go. You can also use the arrow keys to move around.
The buttons along the toolbar have the following uses and keyboard buttons:
Portrait: F5, Brings up the character screen where you can view your stats.
Options: ESC, brings up the options menu.
Star: Backspace, Brings up your spell book.
Hand: Changes your interaction mode, which are also easily accessed:
F1 Steal Mode, F2 Grab Mode, F3 Info mode, F4 Dialog Mode.
Bags: F6, Brings up your Inventory.
Swords: A, Readies/puts away your weapon.
Wand: U, Use a magical item.
Legs: T, Change mode of transportation (foot, horse, cart, ship)
Map: M/W, Brings up the local map. Right-click brings up the World Map.
Campfire: R, Brings up the rest menu.
Press ESC and go to Controls to view the various commands and the keys they are
mapped to.
You can also feel free to customize the controls to your liking. You are
welcome to stick with the defaults, of course; however, many people never
realize that the game supports mouse freelook, such that the game plays out
very similarly to any other first person game. This makes it MUCH easier to
look around and control the game.
[!] To activate mouse freelook, press ESC and go to Controls. There, along the
bottom you will see a button for Mouse, click it. Now, just switch the mouse
from Cursor to View.
If you set the mouse to freelook, there are two other keys you need to make
note of in the controls screen. They are:
* Activate Center Object: by pressing this key, you "click" on whatever you
are pointed at. This is used to talk to people, pull levers, loot treasure
piles and bodies, etc. Pretty much everything.
* Toggle Cursor: This will allow you to switch the mouse to a cursor in order
to make clicking on small items easier.
** Combat! **
Once you have you weapon readied, you can attack by holding down the right
mouse button and moving the mouse around; you are effectively swinging your
weapon with the mouse. We'll go into more depth on combat later.
** Magic! **
Casting spells is easy. All you do is open up your spellbook and double click
on the spell you wish to cast. The type of spell determines what you have to do
next: if it affects you, such as a healing spell, then it will cast
immediately. If it is a touch or ranged spell, then you'll have to release the
spell manually by either clicking the left mouse button (cursor mode) or
pressing "Activate Center Object" (view mode). Note that in order to cast a
touch spell, you actually have to be close enough to touch someone.
===============================================================================
|| I.6 - Escaping the Privateer's Hold 013 ||
===============================================================================
Since every character you make will have to escape this first dungeon, it seems
logical to include this here. This is a walkthrough of the easiest way out of
the Privateer's Hold; there is more to the dungeon if you feel like exploring
it, but you'll have to do that on your own.
You begin in a cave with a campfire. Be sure you open up your inventory and
equip any weapons you have. Also, you should save your game right now; the
first dungeon is pretty dangerous, and you probably don't want to have to go
through character creation all over again. To the south is a passage
out of the cave, follow it. You will come to a door. Open it and proceed into
the room.
In here you will find a rat and a treasure pile. Kill one and loot the other,
then proceed up the stairs to the west. This corridor will continue for a
while; at the second corner you will encounter a bat. Immediately after the bat
you will see a door on your left--DO NOT GO IN THERE! In that room is an imp,
which can easily kill you with its shock spells; there is a treasure pile in
there, though, so if you want to take the risk going after it, go ahead, but
you have been warned!
The corridor will continue to wind around, and you will pass a second door;
through that door is only a room with another rat in it. Keep following the
passage until you come to the third door, which leads down some stairs--you
may want to take this little side trip, because down those stairs is a human
enemy; he may hurt you quite a bit, but if you can kill him he will be well
equipped with a good bit of armor and weapons.
Continue along the corridor until it finally ends at a door. Through that door
you will find a large, U-shaped table with an archer behind it. If you run
up to the table, you will likely be able to hit him a few times and back away
before he can hit you; don't worry, he'll be too stupid to come around the
table to get you. Kill him, because he'll have some good equipment for your
enjoyment. Then take the exit on the north wall.
OK, you are now in a large room with a grand staircase. Above the staircase is
a balcony that you need to get to. There is one obstacle: a skeletal warrior
guards the top of the staircase, and he a very tough enemy to be facing when
you are low level and lightly equipped. You can try your luck at defeating him,
in which case your next move will be to jump or climb onto the throne at the
top of the staircase, and pull the lever next to it; this will make the throne
rise up so that you can reach the balcony.
The far safer method, however, is to bypass the skeletal warrior altogether.
Go around the left side of the staircase, past the bat. There you will see some
mismatched textures on the wall--the telltale sign of a hidden door! Open that
door and continue straight east through the next door. You are now in a very
brown passage that will twist around to the left and lead to some stairs; take
the stairs to the top, and through the door you will find yourself on the
balcony.
Now that you are on the balcony, follow the passage to the south until you
come to the first door on your right. This is the final room! Unfortunately,
it has a rat, a bat, and an imp guarding it. Kill what you can and run past
what you can't; what you are looking for is a stone archway with a skull in it,
along the right wall--that is the exit! For reference, all dungeon exits look
like that.
There! You have escaped, and may now go and explore the world of Daggerfall.
===============================================================================
|| II - Life in the Illiac Bay 014 ||
===============================================================================
Now that you are in the world, it's time to learn how to live in it. This
section will focus on interacting with the world and doing minor things like
travel, dialogue and shopping.
===============================================================================
|| II.1 - Travel 015 ||
===============================================================================
Travel is initiated by pressing "W" or by right clicking on the map icon in the
toolbar. This will bring up the world map, where you can see the 50+ kingdoms
that are open to you. By clicking on a kingdom, it will zoom in and you can see
all the individual locations you can travel to. Right clicking will zoom in
further, if you like. You can use the filters on the bottom to show or hide
certain types of locations.
Once you find a place you want to go, click on it to bring up the travel
window. Here you can select how you wish to travel:
1. Speed: Cautiously or Recklessly. This determines your pace; recklessly is
almost twice as fast as cautiously, however, you will only rest minimally on
your journey. So you will arrive in the same shape than you left and may arrive
at night. Traveling cautiously is slower; however, you will be fully rested
when you arrive, and you will always arrive during the day (often right at
dawn). Also, since travelling cautiously counts as resting, you may arrive to
find a skill or two has increased along the journey.
Do note that if you are a Vampire or afflicted with the Damage in Sunlight
special disadvantage, traveling cautiously will always make you arrive at
night, often right at sunset. Isn't that thoughtful?
2. Transport: Foot/horse or Ship. This only makes a difference if you are
traveling over a body of water, in which case ship travel is much faster--and
also much more expensive. If you own a ship (yes, you can buy a ship!) then
traveling across water is free. Also, note that owning a horse makes traveling
faster as well.
3. Stop for night at...: Inns or Camp out. Staying at inns will cut down on
your travel time a little, but costs extra. Camping out is free.
You can always see how long your trip will take and how much it will cost at
the bottom of the window. Note that the direction your current location is
from your desitnation determines what edge of the map you arrive on; that is,
if your destination is to the North of you, then you will arrive at the
southern edge of town.
===============================================================================
|| II.2 - Towns and Locations 016 ||
===============================================================================
As you can see on the travel map, there are thousands of locations; the type of
location is designated by the color of its dot. There are also varying shades
of each color, which will indicate how large the settlement is; darker shaded
locations are smaller, lighter shaded ones are larger.
Gray: Towns. The larger towns are often walled and have more services; their
services are often of higher quality as well. You will have better chances of
finding guilds, temples, and certain shops in the larger towns. Arriving at a
walled city at night can be irritating, as the city gates will be closed; of
course, you can always climb or levitate over the walls if you need to.
Red: Graveyards. These consist of an outdoor cemetery and a single crypt. Most
crypts are very small dungeons of 2 or 3 rooms; they'll have a few monsters
and a little treasure, but usually nothing to get too excited about. If you
rest outside, you will often be disturbed by an enemy of some sort. You can use
this to your advantage; you can rest outside, kill what shows up, take its
stuff, and repeat until you have lots of loot to go sell. This is also an easy
way to practice your skills.
Orange: Dungeons. You will only have one orange dot on your map at the
beginning--the Privateer's Hold. In order to open up new dungeon locations,
you must either find a dungeon map as loot or get a quest involving a dungeon
(and most quests do). Dungeons are always very large and rather difficult to
navigate. More information on dungeons will come later on in the guide.
Blue: Temples. The lighter blue temples have a standard temple, one that you
can join and which offers services. They also tend to have a small set of
houses around the temple. The dark blue temples are small altars with only
a few people and offer no services, nor do they seem to serve any purpose
whatsoever.
Brown: Homes. These are simple estates and farms that serve no purpose.
Black: Witch Covens. These must be discovered by finding a map or getting a
quest to a coven. Of course, if you know where one is supposed to be, you could
try to find it by walking overland through the wilderness. Covens offer quests
and are one path to summoning a Daedric Prince for artifact quests.
If you cannot find a location, you may use the Find function to locate it. You
do not have to type in the entire location name, however, you must start from
the beginning. For example, if you are looking for "The Ruins of Castle Yeomen"
then you cannot enter "ruins of yeomen" or "castle yeomen" into the Find
function. You must start from the beginning.
===============================================================================
|| II.3 - Dialogue 017 ||
===============================================================================
Talking to people is a good way to get information. You can ask them for
directions to a certain guild or merchant, where to find a particular person,
where to find work, or even just a little information on important people and
factions. Most of the time, however, you will be asking them for directions.
In the dialog window, you will see a variety of buttons. The top-left most
specify what sort of question you are trying to ask. The top two switch between
"Tell me about..." which allows you to ask about rumors and general
information, and "Where is..." which will ask for directions. If you select
"Where is...", then the next four buttons determine what you want directions
to; are you asking for directions to a Location, a Person, a Thing, or Work?
1. Locations: All guilds, shops, etc. are Locations. Select first what type of
establishment you are looking for, and then select the name of the shop. Also
on this list are General and Regional; General includes other locations such as
palaces and residences (residences will only be listed if you are on a quest to
find one). If this particular town does not offer the shop or guild that you
are looking for, then you can ask for it under Regional; the person will then
direct you to another town in that kingdom that has that establishment.
2. People: If you are on a quest and need to find a specific person, then you
will find their name here. The NPC will then direct you towards the house or
establishment where that person currently is. Important NPCs are ALWAYS inside
a building of some sort; they never wander around outside.
3. Things: Supposedly, if you were hunting for a specific item for a quest,
you would be able to ask for information about it here. Unfortunately, this
almost never happens; you are always looking for a person or place, rarely a
thing. So this will usually be blank.
4. Work: Asking for work will direct you towards a merchant or innkeeper who
is currently offering a quest; you will be directed to both the person by name
and the establishment they can be found in. These are all Merchant quests.
(see more information on Quests later).
---
So what happens when you ask someone a question? Well, they'll either:
a. Not know the answer.
b. Know the answer and tell you.
c. Know the answer and not tell you.
For all purposes, a and c are the same thing.
If they do know the answer, then they will either give you a cardinal direction
and a relative distance (Oh, it's not too far to the southeast), or they will
mark its location on your local map. You can ask them multiple times, of
course; if they just give you a direction and you'd rather have them mark your
map, you can try asking them until they give it to you.
If they don't know the answer, just ask someone else!
Your tone has an effect on how people respond to your questions. If you use the
proper tone, you'll have better luck getting an answer out of them. You can
usually tell which tone to use with people based on how they greet you.
1. Polite, which uses your Etiquette skill. This is best used with nobles and
other well-spoken people, as well as people who like you.
2. Blunt, which uses your Streetwise skill. This is best used with peasants
and lower class citizens, as well as people who clearly do not like you.
3. Normal, which uses no skill and is the most basic way of speaking. You can
get most information by just speaking normally, but sometimes it works better
to use one of the other tones.
===============================================================================
|| II.1 - Shops and Services 018 ||
===============================================================================
Ah, shopping! There are a variety of shops in Daggerfall, so it helps to know
the differences between them; the various shops only deal in certain types of
items, and some shops are of higher or lower quality than usual. In this
section, you'll learn how to shop like the pros.
* Quality:
Every shop and guild has a quality attached to it. You will know the quality of
the shop by the description it gives you when you open the door.
1. "Rusty relics..." is the lowest quality shop. They will carry the lowest
quality items; however, the prices will also be the lowest and they will pay
top dollar for your stuff!
2. "Sturdy shelves..." is below average.
3. "...adequate construction" is average. You'll have an average chance of
finding the better items here, and you'll get standard prices for buying and
selling.
4. "...skillfully crafted" is above average.
5. "Incense and soft music..." is the highest quality shop. You'll have the
best chance of finding better items here; however, you will pay more for them,
and they will give you less for your items when selling.
So as you can see, you'll want to remember the Rusty Relics and the Incense
shops. Rusty Relics are best for selling, and Incense are best for buying--or,
stealing! The same rules apply for guilds; the higher quality guilds often pay
more for quests.
---
* Types of Merchants:
There are a variety of shops to choose from, all depending on what sorts of
items you wish to buy or sell.
Merchant: Hours: Merchandise:
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Alchemist: 7:00-22:00 Ingredients and precious stones.
Armorer: 9:00-19:00 Mostly armor but also some weapons.
Bookstores: 9:00-21:00 Books only. Some are actually libraries.
Clothier: 10:00-19:00 Clothing only.
General Store: 6:00-23:00 Weapons, books, clothing, and jewelry.
Jeweler: 9:00-18:00 Jewelry and precious stones.
Pawn Shop: 9:00-20:00 All except ingredients and clothing.
Weapon Smith: 9:00-20:00 Mostly weapons but also some armor.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Weapon smiths and armorers will also repair your weapons and armor for a fee.
General stores are also the only place to get horses and wagons. Having a horse
greatly increases your traveling speed, and you can ride them around town as
well (change your mode of transportation by pressing "T" or clicking on the
legs on the toolbar). Wagons will allow you to carry much more stuff, although
you cannot access them inside dungeons.
*************************************************************************
* IT IS IMPORTANT THAT YOU NEVER ACQUIRE ADDITIONAL HORSES OR WAGONS! *
*************************************************************************
Did I make that clear enough? You cannot drop or sell horses or wagons, so
you'll be stuck with them forever. Also, this has a tendency to cause the game
to glitch. So just don't do it; one of each is enough.
| Actually, I've been alerted that this was fixed in one of the patches. That's
| good, because I was so scarred by this happening to a character of mine once
| that I apparently never got over it. Still, it's a good idea not to tempt
| fate by buying extra horses or wagons. They don't get you anything anyways.
---
Banks: 8:00-15:00
Here you can do a variety of things. Have I mentioned yet that gold has weight?
Every 400 gold adds one kilogram. Carrying a lot of money can seriously bog
down your encumbrance. Luckily, you can solve this in a way that doesn't
involve you dropping money on the floor--yes, clicking on "Gold" in your
inventory will allow you to drop gold, but you can't pick it back up!
* Your account: You can deposit money into an account at a bank. That money
will be accessible from any other bank in that kingdom; each kingdom has its
own bank, however, so your money will only be accessible from within the kingdom
you deposited it. You may have multiple accounts open, one in each kingdom if
you like. You can keep as much money in your account as you like, and withdraw
it at any time.
* Letters of Credit: Instead of carrying a load of gold around, you can have it
converted into a letter of credit. This small, practically weightless piece of
paper can be worth any gold amount; however, the bank charges a 1% fee when you
make a letter of credit. Still, 1% is a small price to pay for all that freed
up weight that you can use to carry more loot! In order to make a letter of
credit, you must first deposit money into your account. For reference, if you
wish to make a letter of credit such that the gold amount on the letter plus
the 1% fee empties your account completely, divide your account balance by
1.01, and make a letter of credit to that amount (truncated to the nearest
whole number).
You can use letters of credit to pay for items in stores, and if you sell so
much that you cannot carry the gold you would receive, they will give you a
letter of credit instead. However, you cannot use letters of credit to pay for
travel costs or tavern room & board--they only accept cash.
* Loans: If you're hurting for cash, you can take out a loan. The maximum
amount of the loan depends on your legal reputation in that kingdom. You'll
have one year to pay back the loan, with 10% interest. If you don't pay it back
your legal rep will plummet. Of course, each kingdom has its own bank, and
each kingdom has its own legal reputation for you; your rep in one kingdom has
no effect on the other kingdoms of the bay. This means that, if you don't plan
to return to a particular kingdom ever again, by all means feel free to take
out an impressive loan that you never plan to repay!
* Buy House: Yes, you can buy a house! In order to do so, there must be a bank
in the town you wish to purchase property in; you may select the house you want
from the list, however, you do not get to select where it is. You can sleep in
your house and store junk on the floor, but there's not much else to it.
* Buy Ship: Ah, now this is a worthwhile purchase! Buying a ship makes ocean
travel fast and free. Also, you can board your ship from any outside location
by changing your mode of transportation (press "T" or click on the legs on the
toolbar and then select Ship). On your ship, you can rest safely and store
stuff both inside and outside the hold; even the smaller ship has TONS of space
for storage. Changing transportation to ship again will send you back to where
you were previously. All in all, this makes a ship a MUCH better purchase than
a house, as you can access it from anywhere, not just one town.
===============================================================================
|| II.5 - Crime and Punishment 019 ||
===============================================================================
A life of crime can be both enjoyable and rewarding. If done correctly, you can
stuff the entire contents of a store into your wagon and escape without the
guards ever knowing it was you. Furthermore, as the game does not track what
items are stolen and which aren't, you can sell that wagonload right back to
the merchant the next morning and he'll be none the wiser--but you will be all
the richer.
--- Crimes of Theft:
* Pickpocketing:
The simplest crime, pickpocketing is done by putting yourself into Steal mode
(F1) and clicking on any of the townsfolk that wander about. If you are
successful, you will pinch a few gold pieces or other random item; if you fail,
the guards will be called and will try to arrest you. You can also pickpocket
enemies and monsters, which is funny; oddly enough, though, if you pickpocket
anyone outdoors, whether it's a townsperson or monster, or whether your in a
town, cemetery, or outside a dungeon, the guards will come for you. You can
safely pickpocket anyone and anything inside a dungeon to your heart's content,
but anywhere else it's illegal.
* Shoplifting:
First off, never do this. Shoplifting is a terrible idea, and you'll almost
never successfully steal anything in this fashion. In any case, shoplifting is
done almost no different from normal shopping; you go to a store during
business hours, click on a shelf to look at the items, click on what items you
want to swipe, and then click "Steal" instead of "Buy." Shoplifting is
governed by your pickpocketing skill, but even with 100 skill you'll rarely
succeed, so again: don't bother with this method.
* Burglary: If you go poking around homes and some stores, you'll find crates
and dressers and such. Sometimes, when you click on these containers, you'll
get a message to the effect of "This is private property, do you still wish to
open it?" Clicking yes will allow you to pillage the container. Unfortunately,
this almost always alerts the city guards; of course, the contents are usually
worthless, so there's little point in doing this in the first place.
* Breaking and Entering:
If you are caught picking a lock or bashing in a door, OR if you are seen
leaving after breaking into a building, you can be charged with breaking and
entering. You will rarely be caught picking locks or leaving establishments,
however, bashing in doors is extremely noisy--if at all possible, pick the lock
or use an Open spell.
* Trespassing:
If you are still in an establishment when it opens in the morning, the
shopkeeper will discover you and call the guards. It can be difficult to escape
from this, as they will often cluster around the door, blocking your escape.
Best to just keep an eye on the time and get out beforehand.
The best method of thievery is catburglary. Break in at night when the store is
closed. You can pick the lock or use an Open spell; you could also bash in the
door, but that is unadvised as it will usually attract the guards. Once inside,
go to each shelf and empty the contents into your wagon. The next morning, you
can sell all the loot you don't want--even to the very same merchant you stole
it from! See something you want in a store, but can't afford? It'll still be
there that night, provided you haven't left town.
--- Crimes of Violence:
* Assault:
Because assault is attacking without killing, the only people you can assault
are the city guards; all other wandering townsfolk die in one hit. Needless to
say, if you assault a guard, they'll try to arrest you.
* Murder:
They tend to send more guards after you for murder than for other crimes.
Wandering townsfolk only take one hit to kill, no matter what. For obvious
reasons, this is the worst crime and the punishment is usually severe.
Note that you can only attack townsfolk and friendly guards with melee weapons;
hostile guards can be hit with anything, but you cannot hurt innocent people
with arrows or spells.
--- Other Crimes:
* Vagrancy:
Yes, you'll get fined if you try to sleep in towns. If you need to take a
snooze, go find a tavern. Loitering is permissible, but don't accidentally
sleep by pressing the wrong button!
* Criminal Conspiracy:
This one is my favorite. If you've already had a few scrapes with the law and
your legal reputation is very low, then you can be arrested for simply being a
criminal and continuing to exist. This is the city guard's way of saying "Look,
you're a psychopath, and we'd rather arrest you now instead of waiting for the
inevitable crime spree." This is also what you'll be charged with if you are
banished from a town and have the nerve to return. The annoying part about this
one is that the guards have a habit of hunting you down, showing up at
cemeteries and outside dungeons.
---
"I've been caught doing crime, what do I do?"
Relax. Getting away with any crime is fairly easy to do. All you have to do is
get away without the guards arresting you; if you are asked whether you want to
surrender to the city guards, then you've been nabbed and they know who you
are. Otherwise, if you can get away, then you'll be fine!
Unfortunately, the way the game detects whether a guard has caught you is if
they attack you--that is, if you take damage. This means that if you take any
damage while being chased by the guards, the game thinks you've been caught and
pops up with the surrender message. Even taking falling damage from dropping
over the city wall or taking damage from sunlight will trigger the message,
which means you've been recognized and your reputation with the law will drop.
In order to get away with the crime, you must escape without taking any damage.
---
"I surrendered, what happens next?"
You'll go to court and stand before a judge. There, they will tell you what
crime you are being charged for and what your punishment will be if you are
found guilty. Punishments range from fines to imprisonment to banishment. Going
to jail for extended periods of time is a bad thing for a number of reasons:
for one, you'll probably fail whatever quest you are on because you took too
long; for two, your rep with each faction in the game moves one point toward
zero each month, so if you go to jail for too long, you can lose your guild
membership. Banishment means that if you ever return to the town you were
expelled from, the guards will come for you and try to arrest you for Criminal
Conspiracy.
1. Plead "Guilty": Admitting to the crime will usually lessen the sentence.
2. Plead "Not Guilty": will give you the chance to argue your case; choose
Debate to use your Etiquette skill or Lie to use your Streetwise skill. If you
succeed, you'll get off free (you rep will still drop for being arrested).
Members of the Thieves Guild or Dark Brotherhood will find that the guild will
sometimes pay off or threaten the judge to let you go. This chance is based on
your rank within the guild. It pays to have connections!
When you are ejected from court or jail, you will be dumped outside the city
gates with a single point of health (I guess they beat you up whether
you're guilty or not). This leaves you extremely vulnerable, so it's a wise
idea to immediately hit "W" and travel Cautiously to some other location, just
to get your health back. Sometimes rival factions will have assassins waiting
for you, so you'll have to outrun them first. Of course, if you are a vampire
or take damage from sunlight and they dump you out during the day...
well, you're toast.
---
"My rep with the law is really low, how can I make it better?"
For reference, you can check you reputation with the law by pressing "I" or
clicking on the compass in the toolbar. The various legal reputations are:
Revered = Highest
Esteemed
Honored
Admired
Respected
Dependable
Common Citizen = Neutral
Undependable
Scoundrel
Criminal
Villain
Pond Scum
Hated = Lowest
Contrary to most games, going to jail does not erase your criminal record. No,
that was just the punishment; the law will continue to be suspicious of you for
quite a while. There are three ways to improve your legal rep:
1. Time. Every month your reputation with each faction moves one point
towards zero, which is neutral. So if you get into trouble, just stay clean for
long enough and eventually you'll be back to "Common citizen."
2. Move to a different kingdom. Each kingdom keeps their own legal assessment
of you, so if you foul things up in one area, move next door and start with a
clean slate. Also, while you spend your time in a neighboring kingdom, your old
reputation is slowly normalizing. Sometimes it is wise to choose a kingdom you
don't care about and try to contain all your crime in that one area; that way
it doesn't matter if you get caught on your thieving spree, because you were
not in your home kingdom. There are over 50 kingdoms in the game; you can
certainly afford to have one or two hate you.
3. Do certain quests. There are only two quests that can boost your legal rep,
and they are both offered by merchants or innkeepers. The first is if they ask
you to escort them somewhere; often this is because they are trying to escape
the clutches of some other faction. At some point, you may get the chance to
turn them over to that faction, and if that faction is the city guards, then
turning the shmuck over to them will boost your reputation with the law.
The other quest is the one where you are falsely accused of stealing a gem from
a merchant. You'll be "hated" until you can prove your innocence, but
completion of this quest will also boost your legal rep.
===============================================================================
|| III - Items 020 ||
===============================================================================
And now we can get into all the items and loot you'll come across in your
adventures. Here you'll learn what equipment is the best, which materials to
look out for, and also what isn't worth keeping--you only have so much weight
you can carry, best make the most of it! This isn't the most interesting
section to write, being mostly tables and numbers, but we'll get through it.
===============================================================================
|| III.1 - Weapons 021 ||
===============================================================================
There's always a good chance that you'll come across a better weapon than your
current one when adventuring. If you "Info" an item in the inventory screen,
you can see its statistics, such as damage output, weight, and condition. The
following table lists the weapons by type and in order of increasing quality.
All statistics of weapons are modified by the material they are made of.
Type: Name: Hands: Base Damage:
-------------------------------------------------
Axe Battleaxe 1 2-12
Waraxe 2 2-16
Blunt Weapon Staff 2 1-8
Mace 1 1-12
Flail 2 2-14
Warhammer 2 3-18
Long Blade Broadsword 1 1-12
Saber 1 3-12
Longsword 1 2-16
Katana 1 3-16
Claymore 2 2-18
Daikatana 2 3-21
Short Blade Dagger 1 1-6
Tanto 1 1-8
Shortsword 1 1-8
Wakizashi 1 1-10
Bow Short Bow 2 4-16
Long Bow 2 4-18
-------------------------------------------------
As you can see, the heavy hitters are the axes, blunts, and long blades;
specifically the two handers. But don't discount the smaller one handed
weapons; you can carry a shield with the smaller weapons, adding to your
protection, and the lighter weapons are also faster. The damage may be less,
but they'll be more frequent. Also, they won't eat up your encumbrance as much.
Also, when using 2 one-handed weapons, it is easy to carry and switch between a
normal weapon and your magical awesome weapon--there's no sense in wasting wear
and tear on your magical weapon when it's just a rat, but when the nightblade
pops out of nowhere, you'll want to swap to it quickly.
"S" is the default key to swap hands.
===============================================================================
|| III.2 - Armor 022 ||
===============================================================================
There are seven pieces of armor. Armor can be made of Leather, Chain, or Plate;
plate armor also comes in varying materials, which affects its weight and how
protective it is (see the next section). With the exception of the cuirass,
armor makes for the best loot, as it's gold per unit weight ratio is high.
Armor: Protects:
------------------------------
Boots Feet and calves
Greaves Thighs and waist
Cuirass Chest
Gauntlets Hands
L Pauldron Left arm
R Pauldron Right arm
Helm Head
------------------------------
There are four types of shields. Shields may come in varying materials, but the
material has no effect on the protection the shield provides--however, the
protection does stack with any armor you are wearing AND the protection covers
multiple hit locations. Shields cannot be worn if you are using a two handed
weapon.
Shield: Weight: Armor bonus: Locations Protected:
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Buckler 1kg +1 Hands, left arm
Round 2.25kg +2 Hands, left arm, thighs
Kite 3.73kg +3 Hands, left arm, thighs
Tower 6.25kg +4 Hands, left arm, thighs, head
--------------------------------------------------------------------
===============================================================================
|| III.3 - Materials 023 ||
===============================================================================
Every weapon and armor is made a certain material. This material affects the
damage dealt, protection granted, durability, weight, and the gold value of the
item. For the most part, all properties increase as you go down the list. There
are notable exceptions, of course. Ebony is surprisingly lightweight, along the
lines of leather armor. Silver armor tends to be very rare and very valuable.
Note that while all armor pieces display some sort of armor bonus, the actual
armor rating you get from it is different. Except for chain, the actual armor
values tend to follow a rule of: Armor_Value = 2 * Armor_Bonus + 1.
Actual
Damage Armor Armor
Material: Bonus: Bonus: Value: Color:
-----------------------------------------------------
Leather n/a +1 3
Chain n/a +3 6
Iron -2 +3 7 Dark gray
Steel +0 +4 9 Gray
Silver +0 +4 9 Silver
Elven +2 +5 11 Bright silver
Dwarven +4 +6 13 Gold
Mithril +6 +7 15 Dark blue
Adamantium +6 +7 15 Dull black
Ebony +8 +8 17 Shiny black
Orcish +10 +9 19 Green
Daedric +12 +10 21 Red
-----------------------------------------------------
Do note that there are level requirements for the various materials. You'll
have to be higher level before you begin to see items of the more superior
materials. Also, many monsters can only be hurt by certain materials. For
instance, imps require steel or better, ghosts can only be hurt by silver or
better, and most daedra require at least mithril.
===============================================================================
|| III.4 - Miscellaneous Items 024 ||
===============================================================================
* Ingredients/Potions: You'll often come across ingredients, especially when
looting spellcasting enemies such as mages and sorcerers. You can use them to
brew potions, provided you are high enough rank in certain guilds to use their
equipment; also, you'll need a recipe, because you cannot just look at an
ingredient and know what properties it carries. You can find recipes as loot,
but honestly, potions aren't all that worthwhile. If you find a potion as loot,
go ahead and keep it if the effect is useful; but don't bother with making your
own. Casting the spells yourself is easier, repeatable, and more effective than
a potion.
That said, many ingredients are worth a lot of gold. Be sure to "info" various
ingredients to learn which ones are worth keeping--really, though, ingredients
are so light weight that it wouldn't kill you to take them all.
* Clothing: Clothing is purely aesthetic. It will not affect anyone's opinion
of you, nor will it offer any protection. It's just there to make your
character look cool--which is a good thing to do! It can be enchanted, however,
and you'll often come across enchanted clothing that can prove to be very
useful.
* Jewelry: Jewelry does not show on your character, so there's no aesthetic
appeal here. Jewelry is best used for its enchantability; because you can equip
a lot of jewelry, you can have a lot of enchantments active on yourself, which
can give you a serious advantage over your enemies. Also, jewelry usually sells
for a lot, so it's always good to grab it when you can.
* Other Items: There are other items you'll come across, such as paintings,
religious items, and the like. None of these items serve a purpose (although
you can "Use" paintings to view them); you can always "info" them to see what
they're worth. The best things to grab are Holy Daggers and Holy Tomes, simply
because they sell for a ton of gold.
===============================================================================
|| III.5 - Artifacts 025 ||
===============================================================================
Artifacts are powerful magical items, weapons, and armor that you can acquire
by either summoning a Daedric Prince or by doing certain quests of a Knightly
Order.
* Knightly Artifacts:
High ranking knights can sometimes get a quest to retrieve an artifact. The
artifact you get is randomly selected from the following:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Auriel's Bow A powerful Elven longbow that has been enchanted to
imbue each arrow fired with the spells Lightning, Hand
of Sleep, and Magicka Leech.
Auriel's Shield This powerful shield grants you resistance to fire,
spell reflection, and a magical shielding effect. The
spell reflection alone makes this a very valuable item.
Chrysamere Also called the Paladin's Blade, this claymore will cast
Resist Fire, Spell Reflection, and Heal on command. It
also dishes out a ton of damage.
Lord's Mail Offers superior protection, constant health regeneration
and will cast spells to cure poison and protect you from
enemy spells.
Necromancer's Amulet Grants you constant spell absorption and casts spells of
Regenerate Health and Wisdom.
Staff of Magnus Will regenerate health and absorb spells on command.
Warlock's Ring Grants spell reflection, healing, and boosts your Speed.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
* Daedric Artifacts:
These items are remarkably more powerful than the Knightly artifacts--and more
difficult to come by. In order to get one, you must summon a Daedric Prince
for a quest; if you succeed, they will grant you their artifact. There are two
ways to summon a Daedra:
1. Mages Guild or Temples. Member of these factions may eventually gain access
to the guild summoner. Unfortunately, you must be high ranking in the guild,
and you may only summon a daedra on their particular summoning date. Also, each
guild will only summon certain daedra.
2. The other path is to seek out a Witch Coven. These appear as black dots on
the travel map, and are difficult to find; you must either do a quest involving
the coven to find the location or, if you know where it should be, travel
overland through the wilderness until you find them. There are many Witch
Covens throughout the bay, and some of them are even known to reside in certain
towns. The easiest one to find is the Coven on the Bluff, in the kingdom of
Daggerfall. Travel to the Burning Martyr of Kynareth, and then wander directly
south. The Coven is located in the third map pixel south of the temple.
Witches will summon a random Daedra each day for an immense price (100,000+).
If they are not summoning the Daedra you seek on this day, come back tomorrow;
there is one exception: the Glenmoril Witches will only summon Hircine. Once
you cough over the money, you'll get to see the Daedra, and they will offer you
a quest to prove you are worthy of their favor.
And without further adieu:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Azura's Star This is a reusable soulgem. Soulgems are used to trap the
(Azura) soul of defeated monsters, granted you cast a soultrap
spell on them first. You can use soulgems to boost the
enchantment power of an item when enchanting it. There was
supposed to be a feature where you could buy and sell
souls, ala a black market of sorts; unfortunately, this
didn't make it into the game; you can buy them or use them
in enchantments, but not sell.
Ebony Blade This is a very dark katana with the ability to leech the
(Mephala) health from its enemies and transfer this power to its
master. It will also cast Silence on command.
Ebony Mail This cuirass grants the wearer resistance to common
(Boethiah) magical effects, resistance to fire, and a shielding
effect.
Hircine's Ring Despite the name, this is a shield, and a useful one at
(Hircine) that. With this item, you may turn into a werewolf and
back again whenever you like. This gives you all the
advantages of being a lycanthrope with none of the
disadvantages.
Mace of Molag Bal This mace has the ability to leech the magicka and
(Molag Bal) strength of its victim and transfer them to its master.
Masque of... The Masque of Clavicus Vile boosts your reputation.
(Clavicus Vile)
Mehrune's Razor Each strike from this dagger carries a chance to instantly
(Mehrunes Dagon) slay its victim. The perfect assassination weapon.
Namira's Ring Each time you are hurt by an enemy, the ring will
(Namira) duplicate that damage on your attacker. The amount is
affected by the type of creature: Animals take none,
Daedra take half, humans and monsters take full, and
undead take double.
Oghma Infinium This interesting book grants the reader with 30 points to
(Hermaeus Mora) add to his or her attributes as they please.
Ring of Khajiiti A favorite among thieves, the ring will make you swift and
(Meridia) invisible on command.
Sanguine Rose This mystical rose will summon forth daedroths to fight
(Sanguine) for you. Be warned, as it only has so many uses before it
wilts and disappears.
Skeleton's Key This magical key will open any lock for you, once a day.
(Nocturnal)
Skull of Corruption This is an interesting one. The skull, when used on an
(Vaernima) enemy, will create a duplicate of that enemy which will
fight for you until the original is destroyed.
Spell Breaker This magical shield is the bane of mages. It has the
(Peryite) ability to silence spellcasters, reflect spells, and
negate paralysis on command.
Volendrung This warhammer paralyses and leeches the health of your
(Malacath) enemies.
Wabbajack A most interesting staff, the wabbajack will turn its
(Sheogorath) victim into another creature. Be warned, however, as you
have no control over what form they will take. You may
turn a lich into a rat, or a bear into a vampire ancient.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
===============================================================================
|| IV - Magic 026 ||
===============================================================================
First, a note about premade spells versus those you can make with the
Spellmaker: Custom spells are always better. You can specify exactly what you
want them to do, name them whatever you want, and they often cost less to
purchase and cast than the premade spells. In short, the premade spells exist
to serve one purpose: quests. Some Mages Guild quests require you to cast a
certain spell; custom spells won't cut it, it MUST be the premade spell you can
purchase from the guild. Other than those, you really shouldn't bother with
the canned spells. With that in mind, we'll go into greater detail with the
spellmaker and all the powerful spells you can make with it; there are even
some spell effects you cannot access unless you make the spell yourself!
===============================================================================
|| IV.1 - The Spellmaker 027 ||
===============================================================================
Mages Guild members have access to the Spellmaker, which you can use to compose
customized spells. Once you find the person who offers this service, it's just
a matter of constructing your arsenal of magics to your liking. Let's look at
the base spellmaking screen. Along the bottom left are:
Max SP: This is the maximum amount of magicka you have.
Money: This is the amount of gold you possess.
Spell Cost: How much money the spellmaker is going to charge you.
Casting Cost: How much magicka it will cost to cast the spell. Minimum is 5.
Name: Name the spell anything you like. Be descriptive and witty.
* Remember that one of the primary things your skill in a school of magic does
is affect the cost! As your skill increases, the magicka cost of all related
spells will decrease. So later on you can afford to cast even bigger spells!
Along the right side are the actual spell mechanisms. The two columns allow you
to specify the delivery and element the spell takes.
Delivery: This determines whom the spell affects.
1. Caster: The spell affects you.
2. Touch: The spell affects a single target, whom you must touch.
3. Single Target at Range: The spell is launched at a distant target and
affects a single subject. These spells are extremely difficult to aim and
the game's hit detection for ranged spells is weird--mine often fly right
through enemies to no effect. So I prefer touch or area spells.
4. Area around Caster: The spell bursts from your character in all directions,
affecting everyone nearby. This is useful if you are surrounded by enemies.
5. Area at Range: The spell is launched at a distant target; once it strikes
an enemy or solid object, it detonates and affects anyone caught in the
blast radius--including yourself, if you are too close. This is a much
easier to aim ranged spell, as you do not have to hit them exactly.
Element: Only offensive spells may choose an element. They are, from top to
bottom: fire, frost, poison, shock, and magic. Some enemies are more resistant
or vulnerable to certain elements. For instance, you may wish to create a frost
based spell to combat a fire atronach.
---
By clicking on the gray sparkly button, you may add a spell effect; a spell may
have up to three effects. Each effect may have one or more of the following
components, if applicable. These components are affected by your level.
* Duration: A + B per C levels
Duration determines how long many rounds the spell lasts. A is the base
number of rounds (each round is 6 seconds or so); you will also gain B
seconds for every C levels.
* Chance: A + B per C levels
Chance is the probability of success, out of 100%; having a higher chance
will make your spells more reliable. The base chance is A, and you will gain
B points for every C levels.
* Magnitude: A to B + C to D per E levels
Magnitude is how effective the spell is, whether in terms of damage dealt or
health restored. The base amount is between A and B points, plus an
additional amount between C and D for every E levels.
Typically, lower level characters benefit more from spells with higher base
amounts, as they gain little from the leveled portion; conversely, higher level
characters will find that having low base and highly leveled spells will be
very efficient.
Cantrips:
The simplest form of a spell is useful for practice and minor magics. For any
given spell, the simplest form of the components, while still being as
effective as possible, are as follows:
Duration: 1 + 1 per 2 levels
Chance: 1 + 1 per 2 levels
Magnitude: 1 to 2 + 1 to 2 per 2 levels
===============================================================================
|| IV.2 - Schools and Effects 028 ||
===============================================================================
The following chart will detail each of the effects found in the Spellmaker.
Effect:
(School) Description:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Chameleon Normal or True. This allows you to blend in with your
(Illusion) surroundings, making it easier to avoid detection. Unlike
Shadow, this effect will function in both light and
darkness. A Normal chameleon effect will end once you
attack something; a True spell will only end when the
duration ends--making True the only way to go.
Charm This spell makes you more popular with the target. As far
(Thaumaturgy) as I can tell, this doesn't do much of anything at all.
Climbing This effect makes you twice as good at climbing. Climbing
(Alteration?) isn't difficult to do, so this isn't that useful. Also,
I'm not convinced that this actually works at all.
Comprehend Languages This supposedly boosts your chances of pacifying a
(Mysticism) creature by using your language skills. It's about as
useless as the language skills themselves
Continuous Damage Health, Fatigue, or Spell Points. This will deal the
(Destruction) spell's magnitude in damage each round of duration.
Needless to say, this is a great offensive spell effect.
Just remember that a round is about 6 seconds, so this
may take a bit longer than you may expect!
Create Item Ah, now this is an immensely useful spell effect. With
(Mysticism) this, you can create a variety of items such as armor,
weapons, arrows, and clothing--and they exist
permanently! The duration only determines how long you
have to wait to cast the spell again, so make it as short
as possible. The material of item you get is determined
by your level and your Luck; you'll often get low quality
but it is absolutely possible to summon yourself some
seriously excellent gear.
This spell effectively rids you of the problems of ever
running out of arrows or having no backup weapon. If you
are ever in need of anything, summon it yourself.
Cure Disease, Paralysis, Poison. Pretty self explanatory, you
(Restoration) can rid yourself of one of these maladies. Diseases and
poisons are nothing to be trifled with--they can easily
kill you if you ignore them for too long. Paralysis is
also a deadly spell to be under, as it makes you a
sitting duck while your enemy continues to whack on you.
Damage Health, Fatigue, or Spell Points. The standard offensive
(Destruction) spell. Don't forget to attach the right element to the
spell; it is usually wise to have the same type of spells
in varying elements.
Detect Enemy, Magic, Treasure. While active, this spell will
(Mysticism?) point you toward the nearest target of your choice; a red
triangle will appear on your compass to point you in the
right direction. Note that the spell will point you
toward the target as the ethereal crow flies (that is,
straight to it through walls) and with no indication
of distance; in a Daggerfall dungeon, this may not be all
that helpful. Also, the effect has a maximum range, so
you'll have to be relatively near the target to pick up
on it anyways.
Disintegrate A successful disintegration spell is insta-kill.
(Destruction) Definitely a powerful spell to have, just make sure you
set a high spell chance, as this effect seems easier to
resist than usual. Area-based disintegration spells are
devastating and awesome.
Dispel Daedra, Magic, Undead. The Daedra and Undead versions
(Mysticism) function very similarly to Disintegrate, however they
leave no corpse to loot; also, they are difficult to pull
off. The Magic version will nullify any magical effects
on the subject.
Drain Attribute. This will lower the specified attribute of the
(Destruction) target. This isn't that useful. Even a tactic such as
lowering a spellcaster's Intelligence (to reduce their
amount of Magicka) is accomplished to better effect by
a Silence effect.
Elemental Resistance Fire, Frost, Magicka, Poison, Shock. This will make you
(Alteration) more resistant to the specified type of magic. This is
useful for going up against element-based creatures such
as atronachs. Against spellcasters in general, though,
you'd be better off with Spell Resistance, below.
Fortify Attribute Attribute. This will boost the specified attribute.
(Restoration) Strength is the best choice, so that you can carry more
stuff. Fortify Luck in conjunction with Create Item will
give you a better chance of getting good stuff. Just note
that it won't allow the attribute to go over 100.
Free Action This effect makes you immune to paralysis. Paralysis
(Alteration) being the most deadly and irritating spell to be under,
the benefit to having this spell should be obvious. Note
that since you can still cast spells when paralyzed, you
can use the simplest cantrip of this effect to cure
yourself immediately.
Heal Health, Fatigue, or Attribute. Your basic Restoration
(Restoration) spell, the uses don't need telling. Every character
should have a Heal Health spell for emergencies.
Identify This will allow you to discern the properties of magical
(Mysticism) items you find. The mages guild will identify items for a
fee; however, it can be nice to know whether the magic
cuirass you just found is really worth keeping before
lugging it up the surface.
Invisibility Normal or True. Renders you invisible, making it easier
(Illusion) to sneak around. Normal ends when you attack someone,
True only when the duration ends. Forget Shadow or
Chameleon, Invisibility True is the perfect spell to
avoid detection--accept no substitute. Do note that the
Undead can see right through such spells.
Jumping This spell is supposed to boost your jumping ability. It
(Alteration) actually doesn't do anything at all, so don't bother.
Levitate Allows you to float up, down, and all around. Levitation
(Thaumaturgy) is an extremely useful spell, as it allows you to reach
any area. You can float over city walls, up shafts in
dungeons, over your enemies (while taking potshots at
them, of course), etc.
Light This curious effect conjures a little candle that floats
(Illusion) in front of you, illuminating the area. The candle isn't
that bright, and any benefit it gives is lost by the fact
that you're stuck with this annoying candle floating
around in your face. Sure, dungeons can get dark, but not
dark enough to warrant this irksome sort of magic.
Lock Supposedly, this would allow you to lock doors.
(Mysticism) Unfortunately, I'm convinced it doesn't work, which is
disappointing.
Open This will allow you to open locked doors. It's a good
(Mysticism) idea to have one of these around, as some doors are
magically sealed; you cannot pick or bash them, only
magic will do. Even the weakest Open spell is enough to
crack any town lock.
Pacify Animal, Daedra, Humanoid, or Undead. This effect will
(Thaumaturgy) keep a member of the selected enemy type from attacking
you. Attacking them will immediately cancel the effect,
and they will become hostile. I don't know why you would
ever want to pacify anything; it'll just wear off later
and they'll come after you, and if you kill them you can
take their stuff.
Paralyze This useful effect will render the target unable to move.
(Alteration) This makes them both harmless and easier to kill.
Regenerate This is a duration based healing spell. Very useful
(Restoration) during combat, as any wounds you suffer can slowly
regenerate.
Shadow Normal or True. This is the lower form of Chameleon,
(Illusion) which only functions in darkness. Seeing, of course, as
most if not all the areas you'll want to be stealthy are
in darkness, this is a decent choice. Of course,
Invisibility True is still better, but this one gets
the job done.
Shield This effect grants you enhanced protection in the form of
(Alteration) extra health. The added health acts as a buffer, such
that any damage you take isn't really hurting you. Of
course, you lose the extra health once the spell ends.
If you have a lot of health to begin with, then better
to stick with healing magic; on the other hand, if you
keep getting one- or two-hit-killed by heavy hitters like
zombies, then the shield spell is the better choice.
Silence Removed the target's ability to speak, preventing them
(Mysticism) from using magic. Obviously a great way to render
spellcasters less dangerous, as they won't be able to
blast you, and will have to resort to their undoubtedly
weaker physical attacks.
Slowfall This effect makes you fall slower. This serves two
(Alteration) purposes: one, you won't take any damage from falling too
far; and two, you'll be able to cover more ground when
gliding off a ledge. It's often a good idea to have a
Dispel Magic spell handy, because if you run into a wall,
you'll have to wait for yourself to land before you can
keep going--which can take an irritatingly long time.
Soul Trap If you own a soulgem, you may use this spell to trap the
(Mysticism) soul of a creature; the soul can then be used to boost
the properties of an enchanted item when using the Item
Maker. In order to trap a soul, you must kill the
creature while they are under a soultrap spell--BUT
BEWARE: If you do not have an empty soulgem in your
inventory and cast soultrap on a monster, they will
become immortal! They will not be able to die until the
soultrap spell wears off, as their soul will not have
anywhere to go. That said, an immortal, soultrapped rat
or other weak creature makes a humorous combat dummy.
Spell Absorption This spell functions exactly as the special advantage of
(Restoration) the same name, which I already went into great detail
over. While under this spell, you will have a chance of
absorbing enemy spells; if successful, the spell will be
harmlessly converted into magicka, restoring your
reserves. Remember that if you overload on magicka, you
can die from it.
Spell Reflection Quite possibly the best spell to use against enemy mages
(Thaumaturgy) and other spellcasters, this effect gives you a chance of
reflecting enemy spells right back at them. Instead of
blasting you to bits, they'll blow themselves up instead.
With any luck, you won't have to do any work yourself!
Spell Resistance The superior version of Elemental Resistance; while the
(Restoration) former only protects against certain types of magic,
Spell Resistance will protect you against ANY spell,
regardless of type. Naturally, this makes it a more
expensive spell to cast, but such is the cost of good
protection.
Teleport Buy this spell right now; you will want it for every
(Mysticism) single character you make. Teleport has two functions:
the first is to set an anchor, anywhere you want; the
second is to teleport back to that anchor, from anywhere.
Just remember that each time you teleport, the anchor is
erased--you'll have to set a new anchor before you can
teleport again. Teleportation makes life so much easier;
once you find the object you were searching for in the
bottom of a dungeon, you can easily teleport back up the
surface instead of retracing your steps all the way to
the exit. You could even set the anchor right next to the
person who gave you the quest, so you can report your
success immediately (and save yourself the time it would
have taken to travel). Keep in mind that it is usually a
bad idea to place an anchor inside a building; outside or
in dungeons is fine, but placing an anchor inside a guild
or shop has a tendency to cause the game to glitch.
Transfer Health, Fatigue, or Attribute. This effect allows you to
(Restoration) leech the selected points from the target, and give them
to the caster. This accomplishes two tasks at once,
hurting them and healing yourself. Keep in mind that you
cannot go over your maximum amount.
Water Breathing Because underwater areas can be especially dangerous,
(Alteration) these last two spells are very useful. This one allows
you to breath while underwater; because your breath
doesn't tend to last very long, this is sometimes the
only way to traverse some of the larger water areas.
Water Walking This one allows you to move through water as quickly as
(Alteration) though it were air--think of it as a form of levitation
that only works in water. It effectively negates the need
for a swimming skill. This makes exploration and combat
much easier when underwater.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(ALTERATION) (ILLUSION) (RESTORATION)
Climbing Chameleon Cure
Elemental Resistance Invisibility Fortify Attribute
Free Action Light Heal
Jumping Shadow Regenerate
Paralyze Spell Absorption
Shield (MYSTICISM) Spell Resistance
Slowfall Comprehend Languages Transfer
Water Breathing Create Item
Water Walking Detect (THAUMATURGY)
Dispel Charm
(DESTRUCTION) Identify Levitate
Continuous Damage Lock Pacify
Damage Open Spell Reflection
Disintegrate Silence
Drain Soul Trap
Teleport
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
===============================================================================
|| IV.3 - Enchantments 029 ||
===============================================================================
High ranking members of the Mages Guild or Temple of Julianos will gain access
to the Item Maker, with which you can enchant your gear with a variety of
effects. Enchantments are very similar to the Advantage/Disadvantage system
during character creation, in that you can add both positive and negative
effects to your items. Positive effects add to the enchantment value, which
must be under a certain limit to be acceptable. That limit is determined by the
item itself and, like the disadvantages, the negative effects can help bring
the enchantment value back down under that threshold.
Let's look at the Item Making screen. At the top you'll find the following:
Item Name: You can rename the item anything you like. Oddly enough,
you can rename an item for free by changing its name here
and clicking Exit.
Current Gold: Your total amount of money.
Total Cost: How much it will cost to enchant the item.
Enchantment Points: Here you can see both the current enchantment value of
your selected effects, as well as the maximum amount the
item can be enchanted with.
The top right buttons will allow you to sort through your inventory and select
an item from the column on the far right. Finally, the two main columns will
list and allow you to add powers and side effects to your item.
Remember that all effects, both positive and negative, ONLY function while you
are wearing the item. If you just have it sitting in your inventory, it will
lie dormant. There are two exceptions to this, which are the effects that
change the weight of the item.
| As an interesting side note, you can use the enchanter to rename an item
| without enchanting it. Simply select the item in the enchanting window,
| change the name, and click Make Item. Because you didn't add any effects
| there is no cost, but it still renames the item for you!
Power: Description:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Cast when used Here you may select a premade spell for the item to cast on
command; unfortunately, you cannot select a custom spell.
This is a good way to gain access to spells in schools you
are not very good at.
Cast when held Just like above, except the spell remains active for as
long as you are wearing the item. Giving yourself permanent
spell reflection (Shalidor's Mirror is the spell) or
levitation can be very nice. Remember that your item is
constantly deteriorating while its effect is in use, so
only wear the item when needed.
Cast when strikes As above, except the spell is cast on your enemy each time
you strike them with the item. Obviously, this is for
weapons only. Note that if you enchant a bow with this
power, each arrow will carry the spell. This can easily
make your weapon ridiculously powerful. Just remember to
carry a mundane sidearm, as you don't want to waste your
enchantment on easy critters like rats.
Extra Spell Pts During season, moon phase, or near creature type. Your
maximum amount of magicka will be expanded under the chosen
condition. As far as I can tell, the seasons are the only
ones that work, so don't bother with the other options.
This power is the best way to get more magicka.
Potent vs Undead, Daedra, Humanoid, or Animals. This will make the
weapon more effective when doing battle with the selected
creature type. This can help take down the more powerful
creatures such as undead and daedra.
Regens Health All the time, in sunlight, or in darkness. This functions
exactly as the Regenerate Health advantage, except it is
only in effect while you are wearing the item.
Vampiric Effect At range or when strikes. When Strikes will steal the
enemy's health and give it to you each time you hit them.
Unfortunately, to my knowledge, the At Range power doesn't
work at all. Heal yourself while hurting your enemy? Yes,
thank you, that would be nice.
Increased Weight 25% or 50%. Increases your encumbrance level by the
Allowance selected percentage. Being able to carry more loot is
always a plus!
Repairs Objects The item will slowly repair items in your inventory, one at
a time. The mending is slow, but if you have multiple items
with this power, they can really add up; you can even stack
this power multiple times on a single item! This power can
even repair artifacts.
Keep in mind that enchanted items wear faster than normal,
and if they ever break, they are destroyed completely. Also
note that you cannot repair magical items by taking them to
a blacksmith.
*** This is the ONLY way to repair magical items! ***
Also, in order for this effect to work at all, you'll have
to edit your game files. You see, the developers decided
that this power was unbalanced--too powerful--so they
disabled it. Well, in order to reenable it, all you have to
do is open up the Z.CFG file in your base Dagger directory,
and add the line "magicrepair 1" to it. Because magical
items are destroyed when they break, this can save you the
trouble of having to replace an enchanted item because it
wore out.
Absorbs Spells This acts similar to the Spell Absorption advantage in
character creation. The plus for this power, however, is
that you can easily take it off when you are full; this
will protect you from overloading you magicka.
Enhances Skill Any skill. The chosen skill is boosted while you wear the
item. Note that with this power, your skills can exceed
100 points! It is important to note that, if you have over
100 skill in a school of magic, ALL spells from that school
will cost only 5 points of magicka--no matter how strong
the spell. If you can raise a school above 100 points with
this effect, you will be able to cast spells so powerful
it'll feel like you're cheating.
Feather Weight A favorite of mine, this reduces the weight to 0.25 kg.
This is especially good to use on heavy weapons and armor,
as it will free up a lot of your weight allowance. It's
such an inexpensive power, really, that you can't go wrong
by adding it to every item you enchant. This is always in
effect; the weight is changed permanently.
Strengthens Armor This item will improve your armor rating. Each piece of
armor is enhanced by 5 points--which effectively turns
Elven armor into Daedric. That's nice!
Improves Talents Hearing, Athleticism, or Adrenaline Rush. This will NOT
give you the equivalent of the Advantages of the same
names; however, if you already have the talent, then
supposedly this will make it better. But who cares? They
really aren't that useful anyways.
Good Rep with Commoners, Merchants, Scholars, Nobility, Underworld, All.
Choose to have the item make you more popular with one or
all of the major reputations. This can help you get into
guilds, get better prices, etc. But otherwise it really
isn't all that helpful
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Side Effect: Description:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Soul Bound If you have a filled soulgem, you may add it to your item.
This will often add both positive and negative effects to
your item, and the effects added reflect the creature that
was channeled into the item. You can purchase filled
soulgems from certain guilds, or you can trap your own if
you have an empty soulgem and the soultrap spell.
An interesting thing to remember is that if the item ever
breaks, the soul of the creature will be released; of
course, it's understandably irritated with you for stuffing
its essence into an item, and it will attack you. So not
only did your epic magical longsword of death just shatter
on you, but it released an angry ancient lich that's
looking for payback!
Item Deteriorates All the time, in sunlight, or in holy places. Just remember
this: the decay only takes place while you are holding the
item. If you have to go to a temple, just unequip the item,
and it won't take an damage.
User takes Damage In sunlight or holy places. As above, you'll only take the
damage if you are holding the item in the chosen condition.
If the item is to be used in dungeons, which are neither
holy or in sunlight, then this won't hurt you. Just take it
off before stepping outside.
Health Leech Whenever used, unless used daily/weekly. The item will hurt
you each time you use it, or if you go too long without
using it. Needless to say, putting Whenever Used on a
weapon is a bad idea! In the case of going too long without
using the item, the damage dealt will not heal until you
use the item again. And again, this only functions while
you are wearing the item.
Bad Reactions from Animals, Humanoids, Daedra. Makes it harder to use your
language skills on the specified creature type. But, why
are you using language skills to begin with?
Extra Weight Increased the weight of the item fourfold. Obviously, this
is a bad idea to use on weapons and armor, as they tend to
be heavy to begin with. This is always in effect; the
weight is changed permanently.
Weakens Armor Decreases the armor rating of each piece of armor you wear
by 5 points, to a minimum of zero.
Bad Rep with Commoners, Merchants, Scholars, Nobility, Underworld, All.
This will make you unpopular with the selected faction. Of
course, as with all other enchantment effects, this only
functions while you are wearing the item. If you are in the
bottom of a dungeon, who cares if nobody likes you?
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
===============================================================================
|| V - Guilds 030 ||
===============================================================================
Ah, guilds. Pretty much every character you make will want to join a few
guilds. They are the path to quests and adventure, and to services you cannot
get anywhere else. There are many different guilds:
Mages Guild
Fighters Guild
Thieves Guild
Dark Brotherhood
Temples (one for each Divine)
Knightly Orders (one each for most kingdoms)
You may only join one temple and one knightly order, so the maximum number of
guilds you can be associated with is six.
===============================================================================
|| V.1 - Membership and Advancement 031 ||
===============================================================================
Reputation is important, and so are your skills. In order to join a guild, you
must have a reputation with them that is greater than zero, and also have at
adequate experience with at least two guild-favored skills. Often, this skill
requirement is not an issue, not for joining the guild, at least. Also, to
advance in the guild, you must increase both your reputation and your skills to
sufficient amounts before they'll promote you.
Unfortunately, there is no way to see your current reputation in game, nor can
you see what the skill requirements are for your next promotion.
Rep 1st 2nd
Rank: Req: Skill: Skill:
-----------------------------
0 0 22 4
1 10 30 8
2 20 38 12
3 30 46 16
4 40 54 20
5 50 62 24
6 60 70 28
7 70 78 32
8 80 86 36
9 90 94 40
-----------------------------
You begin at rank 0, so the requirements listed there are to join the guild.
As you can see, for each promotion you must increase your Rep by 10, your
highest skill by 8 and your second highest skill by 4. Don't forget that you
cannot advance until one month has passed since your last promotion.
* Nonmember quests
If your are ineligible for admission into a guild because of insufficient
reputation, you may choose to do a nonmember quest. If you complete the quest,
your rep with the guild will increase a little; however, you don't get as much
rep as you would for a member quest, and there is usually no other sort of
payment. Once you get your rep high enough (that is, zero or above), then they
will allow you to join.
If it is your skills that are insufficient, well, then the only thing you can
do is go out in the world and practice the skills on your own. Once they are
high enough, go back and see if they'll accept you.
===============================================================================
|| V.2 - Quests and Reputation 032 ||
===============================================================================
Taking quests from your guild is both good for you and good for the faction. By
doing them a favor, your guild rep will increase, and you'll probably come
across some decent treasure while your doing the job. When you ask for a quest,
they will give you a short description of what the quest will entail (going to
a dungeon or a town, or what you'll have to kill, etc.); you'll always have the
option to refuse the quest--and refusing a quest carries no consequence
whatsoever. If you don't want to go hunt down rogue imps again, then just see
what other jobs he has available.
The quests are randomly generated through templates, so you'll never run out of
things to do. Even if the guild questgiver says there's no work available, just
ask him again and he'll likely come up with something. Completing a quest nest
you 5 points of rep; failing a quest will cost you 2 points.
A few tips:
1. Almost all quests have time limits, so don't take to long. You have to
complete your objective AND report back to the questgiver in the time allotted.
The time you're given may seem like a lot, but travel and resting in dungeons
can eat up a lot of time.
2. Don't take too many quests at once; you simply
won't have enough time to complete them all. Stopping for a quick in-town
quest, such as to clear out a rat infestation for the Fighters Guild, while on
your way to another quest location is fine--but never take more than one
dungeon quest at once.
3. Learn which quests you enjoy the most. It doesn't matter whether you're
crawling around a dungeon for days on end searching for a vampire ancient, or
whether you just guarded a tranced wizard for 3 hours--you'll get the same
amount of rep for the quest. Also, some quests always pay in gold, and some
quests always pay in items. The Mages Guild in particular has a few quests that
always pay in an enchanted item of some sort.
4. Always save your game before accepting a quest; furthermore, use a
different save slot for your character until that quest is finished. That way,
if the quest is too difficult or ends up glitching itself into oblivion, you
have a clean save from before you even accepted it.
* The effect of time
Over time, your rep with each and every faction will slowly normalize to zero,
which is neutral; the rate is one point per month. If you abandon your guild
for too long, you can find yourself demoted or even expelled because your rep
has decreased too much. For this reason, it's always a good idea to stop in
with your affiliations and do a job for them every now and then. Because a
single quest will get you 5 points of rep, doing one quest will give you a
5-month buffer before your rep begins to decrease.
===============================================================================
|| V.3 - The Factions 033 ||
===============================================================================
And now we can go into detail over the various factions. Here you'll see what
factions offer which services and, more importantly, which services are the
best.
* The Mages Guild
Obviously the best guild for all spellcasting characters, access to the
spellmaker alone makes this guild an essential choice for anyone who plans on
using magic. At higher ranks, you can gain access to the Item Maker, which will
allow you to enchant your items with an abundance of awesome effects. Also, the
Mages guild offers Teleportation--instantaneous travel to any location in the
game--to its highest ranked members.
Quests for the Mages guild vary from dungeon crawls to town deliveries to guard
duty. There's something here for practically any character type.
Rank: Title: Service added:
------------------------------------------
0 Apprentice Spellmaker
1 Journeyman
2 Evoker Guild library
3 Conjurer Buy magical items
4 Magician
5 Enchanter Item Maker
6 Warlock Daedra Summoning
7 Wizard
8 Master Wizard Teleportation
9 Archmage
------------------------------------------
Guild Skills: the six schools of magic.
* The Fighters Guild
The Fighters Guild and the Fighters Trainers (found in Sentinel) are the same
guild. They are local mercenaries that hire out to do middling jobs for the
townsfolk--the bigger and more dangerous quests are delegated to the local
knightly order. Most quests are in town, and usually involve infestations, wild
animals, and escort quests; there are still some dungeon quests, of course.
Services include free room at any guildhouse, training, and also a blacksmith
who will repair your items at a reduced cost. You do not gain access to any new
services as you rise through the ranks of the guild; however your pay is
affected by your rank, so higher ranked members will make significantly more
money for each job they do.
Rank: Title:
--------------------
0 Apprentice
1 Journeyman
2 Swordsman
3 Protector
4 Defender
5 Warder
6 Guardian
7 Champion
8 Warrior
9 Master
--------------------
Guild Skills: Archery, axe, blunt weapon, giantish, long blade, orcish, and
short blade.
* The Thieves Guild
Entry into the Thieves Guild is by invitation only. After you commit a number
of thefts, be they successful or unsuccessful, you may be contacted by the
guild. You see, the Thieves Guild does not tolerate freelance thieves; you must
either join them or suffer their wrath--that is, the guild will send thugs
after you every now and then. If you decide to join, you will undergo a simple
test; if you complete the test, they will admit you into the guild.
Being a member of the guild carries several perks. The most important of which
is that any time you are arrested for theft, there is a chance that the guild
will pay off the judge to let you off free. They will also give you maps t
dungeons for you to explore and loot. The spymaster is a special NPC who will
always have information on any rumor you are interested in.
Thieves Guild quests are all in-town quests; not a single quest involves a
dungeon, which is probably why they give you maps when you rank up.
Rank: Title: Reward/Service:
-------------------------------------------
0 Apprentice Dungeon map
1 Journeyman
2 Filcher Buy magical items
3 Crook
4 Robber Access to Spymaster
5 Bandit
6 Thief Dungeon map
7 Ringleader
8 Mastermind Dungeon map
9 Master Thief
-------------------------------------------
Guild Skills: Climbing, backstabbing, lockpicking, pickpocket, short blade,
stealth, and streetwise.
* The Dark Brotherhood
The assassins guild is also by invitation only. If you murder a few innocent
civilians, the Dark Brotherhood will contact you. Freelance assassins are not
tolerated; you must join the guild or be marked for death--that is, they will
send trained assassins after you every now and then. Like the thieves guild,
you will be tested before admission.
If you are arrested, there is a chance the guild will threaten the judge to let
you off free. Also, each time you are promoted in the guild, they will reveal a
dungeon location on your world map. The soulgem dealer is supposed to let you
buy and sell soulgems, ala a black market; unfortunately, you can only buy the
soulgems, which are useless unless you also have access to the Item Maker.
Interestingly enough, you are just as often sent after freelance assassins as
you are hired for a true assassination. Most quests involve dungeon crawls,
however there are a good handful that are in towns.
Rank: Title: Service added:
-----------------------------------------
0 Apprentice
1 Journeyman Buy potions
2 Operator
3 Slayer Potionmaker
4 Executioner
5 Punisher Buy soulgems
6 Terminator
7 Assassin Spymaster
8 Dark Brother
9 Master Assassin
-----------------------------------------
Guild Skills: Archery, backstabbing, climbing, critical strike, daedric,
destruction, short blade, stealth, streetwise.
* Temples
There are eight different temples, one for each Divine. Each temple is a
separate faction; you may only join one temple. There are also Temple Knights,
military arms of the temples, which are the same as the temple they serve.
Temple quests involve dungeons and towns, and each of the different temples has
one unique quest they offer in addition to the standard ones.
Each temple offers different services and at different ranks, so choose
carefully. All temples will cure diseases for members and nonmembers alike.
Most temples also accept donations, which grant you a blessing to certain
things; the magnitude is based on your rank, and the duration on the amount of
gold given.
Temple: God of: Blessing:
------------------------------------------
Akatosh Time Speed
Arkay Birth and Death None
Dibella Beauty Luck
Julianos Knowledge Intelligence
Kynareth Air Endurance
Mara Love Personality
Stendarr Mercy Legal Rep
Zenithar Commerce Mercantile
------------------------------------------
Some temples also grant you special bonuses for being a member:
1. Akatosh will increase your travel speed slightly.
2. Arkay will cure your diseases cheaper.
3. Kynareth will allow you to hold your breath longer underwater.
4. Mara will improve your disposition toward the opposite sex.
5. Stendarr will, on occasion, save you from a killing blow.
The following table will lay out when each temples offer their services, with
the following abbreviations:
HW/Heal Wounds: Speaking to any service provider in the temple will heal you.
BP/Buy potions: You may purchase potions.
PM/Potionmaker: You gain access to the potion maker.
MI/Magical Items: You may purchase magical items. (Julianos only!)
IM/Item Maker: You gain access to the Item Maker (Julianos only!)
BS/Buy Spells: You may purchase spells. (Kynareth only!)
SM/Spellmaker: You gain access to the spellmaker. (Kynareth only!)
SG/Soulgems: You may purchase soul gems.
DS/Daedra Summoner: You gain access to the daedra summoner.
Rank: Title: Aka Ark Dib Jul Kyn Mar Ste Zen
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
0 Novice HW HW
1 Initiate HW BP BP HW HW BP
2 Acolyte HW HW BP BP HW
3 Adept MI BS
4 Curate BP PM/SG SG SG
5 Disciple PM PM IM PM PM
6 Brother SM PM
7 Diviner DS DS DS DS DS DS DS
8 Master DS
9 Patriarch
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
As you can see, Julianos is the only temple to sell and make magical items, and
Kynareth is the only temple to offer spells and spellmaking. The right temple
can offer access to the services you want sooner than usual, so choose wisely.
* Knightly Orders
And finally we get the knights guild. Like temples, there are many different
knightly orders, and you may only join one of them. Each order is specific to a
certain kingdom, so if you plan on joining one, you'll probably want to make
that kingdom your home. Essentially, however, the orders differ only by name.
They all offer the same services and at the same ranks, and offer the same
quests--which, by the way, do not pay at all. You're a goody knight, remember?
"Doing a good deed is its own reward" and that sort of crap. Knight quests are
all dungeon crawls, and often involve more dangerous creatures than your
standard fare.
There are remarkable benefits to being a knight, of course. You'll never pay
for a room in any tavern in the kingdom of your order; this honor eventually
extends to all inns in the game, and for ship travel as well. Also, you'll get
a free piece of high quality armor each time you rank up--and upon reaching the
highest rank: a free house. Awesome! Finally, remember that Knightly Orders
offer Artifact quests in addition to their standard missions.
Rank: Title: Bonus:
---------------------------------------------------------
0 Aspirant No room charge in home kingdom
1 Squire
2 Gallant Free armor each rank begins now
3 Chevalier
4 Keeper No room charge at any tavern
5 Knight Brother
6 Commander No charge for ocean travel
7 Marshal
8 Seneschal
9 Paladin Free house
---------------------------------------------------------
Guild Skills: Archery, critical strike, dragonish, etiquette, giantish, long
blade, medical.
===============================================================================
|| VI - Dungeons and Adventure 034 ||
===============================================================================
Most of your quests and adventures will involve dungeons. Understand now that
dungeons in Daggerfall are not to be taken lightly; they are expansive
labyrinths filled with all manner of twisting paths, monsters, levers, and
secret passages. You will get lost--and often.
So make sure you are well prepared before you enter that dungeon. A few good
things to remember are:
1. Travel light. Stuff anything you don't need into your wagon. The less gear
you carry around, the more loot you can hold. Remember that gold also has
weight; it's a good idea to deposit your cash into a your account or make a
letter of credit before adventuring.
2. Once inside, you can only access your wagon by clicking on the dungeon
exit. This can be useful, as you can return to the entryway and dump any excess
loot you've collected and lighten your load, all without exiting the dungeon.
3. If you do exit the dungeon, it will reset. The layout will be the same, of
course, but all the monsters and loot will respawn. Also, your quest target
will be relocated.
4. Any treasure you dump on the ground will stay there until either you come
back for it or you exit the dungeon. You can use this to leave yourself a trail
of breadcrumbs, such as to mark passages you have already explored. Of course,
the trail of corpses you leave in your wake will do the same thing.
5. Don't forget to leave a teleportation anchor near the dungeon exit. It is
often better to put it there rather than back in town; that way you can easily
return to the exit and dump stuff in your wagon without actually leaving the
dungeon. Don't forget that after you teleport, the anchor is erased.
===============================================================================
|| VI.1 - Combat 035 ||
===============================================================================
Combat is done by holding down the right mouse button and moving the mouse
around; you are effectively swinging the weapon with the mouse. This is both
entertaining and adds some strategy to the combat system, because the direction
you move the mouse determines which attack you perform. The attacks vary on
their chance to hit and their damage output.
Attack: Chance to hit: Damage:
--------------------------------------------------
Horizontal cut average average
Diagonal slash lower higher
Downward chop lowest highest
Forward thrust highest lower
--------------------------------------------------
If you are having trouble hitting an enemy, you may want to try more cuts and
thrusts, whereas easier to hit enemies may warrant more slashes and chops.
If you hit someone especially hard, you will usually knock them back a few
feet. If they strike a wall, they will take extra damage. You can even do this
with bows. Knocking people over ledges is hilarious.
Also, note that once you get close enough to hit an enemy, they will usually
wait a second or two before attacking you--and you can tell when they are about
to attack because they will usually change their stance right before striking.
Because of this, it is an excellent tactic to keep moving in and out of range
of your enemy. Move in, take a few swings at them, and then back away before
they can attack; when you close in again, they'll have to wait a second or two
again before they attack you. If you keep doing this correctly, they'll barely
have a chance to hit you.
===============================================================================
|| VI.2 - Tips on Navigating Dungeons 036 ||
===============================================================================
Dungeons can be confusing; luckily, you have a fully three-dimensional map at
your disposal. It can seem burdensome to use at first, but once you get the
hang of it you can see just how helpful it really is.
First off, the micromap. The micromap is the small cluster of yellow pixels in
the top-left corner of the map screen. That is a very small representation of
the entire dungeon. The red dot is your general location, and the blue dot is
the general location of the dungeon exit. This can be very useful to you if you
get lost and cannot find your way back to the surface.
The main map screen shows the layout of the dungeon--as much as you have
explored, that is. By using the buttons along the bottom of the screen, you may
move and rotate the map; because dungeons are very three-dimensional, and have
rooms and corridors on top of one another, you'll often have to use the stair
buttons to raise the camera up or down to view the various floors. You are
represented by a red arrow, which points in the direction you are facing.
The grid button on the left toggles the camera between showing the map from the
top or from the side. The top-down camera is the best, as it is the easiest to
use; I wouldn't advise bothering with the side-view camera at all.
* Secret Doors
Secret doors are rather common on dungeons, and can be found in both rooms and
corridors. You can often notice them by the way their texture is mismatched
with the rest of the wall; however, some secret doors blend in perfectly. Don't
fret, though: even if the door fools you, it cannot fool your map! Check your
map frequently to see if you have missed any secret passages.
===============================================================================
|| VI.3 - The Infamous Void 037 ||
===============================================================================
Daggerfall has a reputation for it's numerous glitches--it's true, although the
instability of the game is often exaggerated. With the latest patches (version
1.07.213), the glitches are few and far between. That is, except for the Void.
The most well known and oft encountered glitch in the game, it's best you know
about it now.
You may, at some point in your adventuring... fall through the floor. Or
perhaps you may be jumping up a flight of stairs or an incline and manage to
launch yourself through the ceiling. Whatever the case, you are in the Void!
The Void is the space that lies outside the actual game area. The Void can be
deadly; the Void can also be useful and entertaining.
A few Void facts:
1. You can only enter the Void from an inside area; that is, inside a dungeon
or building. Most of the time, you'll be in a dungeon when the Void claims you.
2. If you fall into the Void, you can die easily. Usually, this comes from
falling too far--if you fall to the bottom of the Void (if there could be such
a thing), the game will pop you back up to the place you were last standing;
you will then, of course, take all that lovely fall damage and die.
3. While in the Void, the dungeon walls are still solid; you cannot pass
through them. This means that you can walk around on the ceilings.
Unfortunately, this also means that it is difficult to return to the dungeon
proper. More on this later.
4. You can see through walls, ceilings, and floors that are not facing you.
This means you can easily see all the secret passages and inhabitants of the
dungeon--very nice if you are searching for a particular creature. You can also
shoot arrows at anyone you can see! Ranged spells will still strike the walls;
however, an area-based spell will still hurt anyone nearby.
Don't forget about levitation! You can levitate while in the Void, and floating
around outside the dungeon proper is a great way to scope the place out. Also,
Depending on the task, it is entirely possible to do a quest from within the
Void.
So, you want to enter the Void on purpose? Be my guest, although there really
isn't a foolproof method of Voiding yourself. There are, of course, some
actions that tend to do the job: Running and jumping while ascending a
staircase or steep incline often leads to launching yourself through the
ceiling. Also, jumping and climbing up dungeon walls sometimes does the trick
as well.
* One somewhat reliable method that I have found is to find an elevator. As you
ride it upwards and it nears the top, start running at the wall that the
passage will leave from; you will often run under the floor and fall into the
void. Just be sure to have a levitation spell handy; you don't want to fall to
your death!
The main trick to navigating the Void is, well, getting back out--or in,
depending on how you look at it. Since you cannot just walk through the walls,
you'll have to find another way to return to the dungeon proper. As with
entering the Void, there is often no reliable method of leaving either. What
you have to do is just search around for what looks like a weak spot in the
dungeon geometry; places like staircases, or even the door thresholds can
sometimes be squeezed through. Try different angles; reentry through the floor
or ceiling is often best. Jump, climb, levitate, duck, anything you can do to
trick yourself back into the dungeon.
* One reliable method that I have found is to levitate up through the floor of
a staircase. Find a staircase and point yourself into the bottom of its slant.
Levitate upwards and move forward, and you'll often pop right back into the
dungeon. Sometimes doing this while ducking can help.
* Also, if you duck and then levitate up under a floor, when you stand up your
head will pop through the floor. You often cannot get any further into the
room, but this will allow you to interact with objects in the room from the
Void. If you can use this to click on the dungeon exit, then you will be free!
Of course, the best method to getting out of the void is to teleport back to
the anchor you no doubt placed at the dungeon entrance.
* The developers did include in one of the patches a method to save yourself
from the Void: ALT+F11. What ALT+F11 does is move you back to where you last
stood. If you press it enough, you can retrace your steps enough to get
yourself back inside the dungeon. Do note that if you just loaded your game
and press ALT+F11, the game will not know where you last stood, and will place
you at the dungeon entrance.
===============================================================================
|| VI.4 - Bestiary 038 ||
===============================================================================
Remember that each creature has a unique sound they make. As you wander through
a dungeon, pay attention to the sounds you hear; if you can identify the
monster before you see it--or more importantly, before it sees you--you'll be
better prepared. There is an exception to this, of course: normal humans make
no sounds whatsoever, save for those that come from hacking you to pieces--so
always be on the lookout!
The creatures are organized by type. While this arrangement should be obvious
for most enemies, do note that there really isn't any concrete information on
which category a few of these creatures belong to. For example, centaurs and
the werecreatures could fit into either animals or humanoids, depending on how
you look at them. And gargoyles, well, I know they aren't undead! So just
realize that the organization here may not be entirely correct--nobody really
knows for sure how they all fit together.
* Animals *
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Rat These obese little rodents will be the least of your
troubles. They are known to carry diseases, however, so
don't let them munch on you for too long.
Bat Flying rats, really, and not much else of interest. As with
other flying creatures, they have a tendency to fall
through the floor and die--which is humorous.
Grizzly Bear Not as dangerous as they look or sound, bears hit rather
hard but go down very easily.
Sabertooth Tiger Same story as the bears, although they hit slightly harder,
and move faster. Nothing a good sword in the pelt won't fix.
Imp Extremely dangerous to low level characters, imps favor
shock spells and require steel or better weaponry to hurt.
Ranged weaponry is best used to kill them without getting
close enough to get shocked.
Spider These annoyingly deadly critters can paralyze you;
fortunately, they hit very slowly. Be prepared with a Free
Action spell and it will be far less a threat to you.
Scorpion Same story as the spider, however scorpions hit a lot
harder, and their paralysis is stronger.
Dragonling They have a mighty roar and just love to fireball people
to death. These are quite rare to come across, but if you
know you're to come up against one, you should invest in a
serious Resist Fire spell.
Dreugh Underwater creatures, the dreugh have no spells or anything
special to look out for--other than the inherent danger
that comes with battling someone underwater.
Lamia Looking like mermaids gone horribly wrong, lamias do not
pose any special threat.
Slaughterfish Slaughterfish are only dangerous because they tend to hunt
in packs and attack rather quickly.
Centaur They have a decent amount of health and hit pretty hard
with their spears.
Harpy Oh, I hate these things! They hit hard and frequently, and
have a lot of health--and they require dwarven or better
weaponry to hurt. They are also very fast and difficult to
outrun.
* Humanoids *
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Humans Humans are some of the most dangerous foes you will meet. They
come in every available premade class, from burglars to knights
to sorcerers and everything in between. The warrior types are
the easiest, as they attack slowly and are easy to dodge. Rogue
types are dangerous, as they attack quickly and some of them
can paralyze you. Mage types have a variety of spells at their
disposal, but will go down rather easily. They make no noises,
and thus can easily surprise you.
Humans also continue to scale to your level. Whereas other
creatures will remain roughly the same throughout the game,
humans will continue to grow more powerful as you do. At all
levels, they can pose a serious threat. Of course, they also
carry the most treasure, so never hesitate to lay waste to one!
Orc These three are simple warriors, each one slightly more
Orc Sergeant powerful than the one before. They pose no serious threat;
Orc Warlord however, they do often carry a lot of loot, on par with humans.
Orc Shaman The orcish shaman, on the other hand, is a serious and terrible
foe. They cast a variety of destructive spells, often ranged,
and also enjoy turning themselves invisible. Your best method
of attack is either to sneak up and kill them quickly, before
they can cast anything, or to hide behind a corner and try to
lure them into wasting their spells by trying to blast you.
Another tactic is to use a Spell Reflection spell, and let
karma do the rest. Silence is also a good spell.
Atronach Atronachs are elemental golems created by wizards. They come in
four varieties: Fire, Frost, Flesh and Iron. Watch out, because
certain elements will not only deal no damage, but they will
actually heal the atronach. For the fire and frost atronachs,
the element in question should be clear; flesh atronachs like
poison-based spells, and iron atronachs enjoy a good shock
spell. If you come up against an atronach, be sure to avoid
using spells of their preferred element. Also, their attacks
deal elemental damage; having resistance to their element can
make the fight easier for you.
Nymph Interestingly enough, Nymphs do not actually deal physical
damage. They only harm your fatigue. Of course, if they reduce
your fatigue to zero, you pass out and get eaten. Regardless,
these naked, giggling girls don't pose any serious threat.
They do require silver of better to harm, though.
Spriggan These tree creatures are an odd sight in a dungeon. They cast
no spells, relying on their wooden claws to kill you.
Supposedly, spriggans must be killed three times before they
die permanently, but it always seems that once does the trick.
Spriggans are very difficult for low level characters, as they
are hard to hit and can absorb a lot of damage.
Giant As you would expect, they move slowly and hit very hard. Best
to either kill them at range or be fleet of foot and attack
them while moving in and out of range of their attacks.
Werewolf Ah, the lycanthropes at long last. These cursed creatures move
Wereboar rather quickly and hit pretty hard. Each hit also carries a
chance of contracting their disease--more on lycanthropy later.
Be sure to monitor your health after an encounter with these
creatures; if you start having odd dreams, best to get to a
temple post haste! As per most legends, they require silver or
better weaponry to harm them.
Gargoyle Just what is a gargoyle? They require mithril weaponry to hurt
--like the daedra, however the daedric language skill has no
effect on the gargoyle. Being clearly not undead, it must be an
animal or humanoid. Ah well. Regardless, other than the steep
material requirement, the gargoyle possesses no interesting or
dangerous talents.
* Undead *
Remember that only Blunt weapons deal full damage to Undead creatures; all
other weapons deal only half damage.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Skeletal Warrior All undead are dangerous enemies, but the skeletal warrior
is the least so. All he'll try to do is whack on you with
his axe. He does have a pretty terrifying howl, though!
He can be quite difficult for low level characters.
Zombie Not only do they make the creepiest noise, but zombies also
have a ton of health and hit VERY hard--but also very
slowly. These guys are not to be taken lightly. They also
carry diseases.
Mummy Mummies aren't all that powerful in terms of combat
prowess, but they do carry all kinds of diseases. Count
yourself lucky if you get in a fight with one and don't
come out of it with mummy rot or some other deadly illness.
Ghost Ghosts require silver or better weaponry to hit, and they
love to paralyze hapless adventurers. Be sure to have a
Free Action spell active before getting too close.
Wraith Wraiths also require silver to hurt, and can dish out a lot
of damage. The most annoying thing about wraiths and ghosts
is that they are so hard to see!
Vampire She (yes, they're all female, go figure) tends to hit
slowly, but rather hard. Vampires also have a few spells at
their disposal, but nothing all that dangerous. Of course,
each time she hurts you, there's a chance you'll catch
Vampirism--more on that later. Silver or better.
Vampire Ancient All the normal vampires are female, and all the suped-up
mega vampires are male. Misogynist much? Regardless, the
vampire ancients are up in the top four most dangerous
monsters in the game, and for very good reason. They move
and attack quickly and deal out a lot of damage. And they
can blast you to bits with spells, if they so desire. Also,
Any weapon less than mithril will just bounce right off.
Lich Liches are powerful undead spellcasters, so any tactics
that apply to spellcasters will work here. Just be
forewarned that liches, and their more powerful kin, have
this odd tendency to blow themselves up with their own
spells. As hilarious as that is, be careful not to let them
blow you up either, as their spells are more than potent
enough to do the job. Mithril or better is required.
Ancient Lich Just as vampire ancients are more powerful than normal, so
are the ancient liches. More firepower, so they can blast
you--and themselves--to tiny bits all the easier. As with
most blasting spellcasters, a little spell reflection will
usually do the trick. Mithril or better.
* Daedra *
All Daedra require mithril weaponry or better to harm them.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Daedroth The least worrisome of the daedra, Daedroth still pack a
punch. They also cast a few spells if you are too far away,
so close in quickly and make them use their axe instead.
Fire Daedra A resist fire spell would be an obvious help with this
enemy, as they love to cast fireballs at you. They do well
in melee and have a decent amount of health.
Frost Daedra Believe it or not, the frost daedra are significantly more
powerful than their fiery kin. They hit a lot harder,
although the same tactics apply.
Daedra Seducer These daedra start out as beautiful and seductive (and
scantily clad) women--but after a few hits they will turn
into their true form, which is winged and even less clad
than before. They'll put up a good fight.
Daedra Lord And here we have it, arguably the most dangerous creature
in the game--right up there with ancient liches and vampire
ancients. Lords have a lot of health, deal loads of damage,
and have an assortment of spells to blast you with. As with
most spellcaster/warrior hybrids, the Daedra Lord will cast
spells at range before closing in for a melee battle.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
For reference, the material requirements for creatures go like this:
Material: Harms:
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Iron
Steel Imp
Silver Ghost, Wraith, Nymph, Werewolf, Wereboar, Vampire
Elven
Dwarven Harpy
Mithril Gargoyle, All Daedra, Lich, Ancient Lich, Vamp Ancient
Adamantium
Ebony
Orcish
Daedric
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Enemy Spellcasters can cast the following spells:
Spell: Element:
----------------------------
Bayna's Antidote
Energy Leech Magic
Fireball Fire
Fire Storm Fire
Free Action
Ice Bolt Frost
Ice Storm Frost
Invisbility
Lightning Shock
Paralysis Magic
Shock Shock
Silence Magic
Spell Shield
Toxic Cloud Poison
Wizard's Fire Fire
Wizard Rend Magic
----------------------------
===============================================================================
|| VI.5 - Diseases 039 ||
===============================================================================
Diseases in Daggerfall are no laughing matter. These aren't like the diseases
in other games where they sap your Strength by a whole 5 points or anything
weak like that. No, these diseases can kill you, and often will if you do not
seek help quickly.
If you contract a disease, you won't know it right away. Hours or even days
later, you'll get the "You feel somewhat bad..." message, which should clue
you in that you're sick. Press "I" to check your health condition, and it
should say you're either poisoned or diseased; if you are diseased, it will
tell you what disease you have and what it does.
Most diseases will damage one or more attributes or your health, slowly ebbing
your life away until you die from it--because if any of you attributes reach
zero, you're toast. Most often, you won't die while adventuring; you'll croak
on the way home. Traveling is rough on you in your fragile state, and the trip
can often be fatal for the diseased. The longer the trip, the more dangerous.
If you contract a disease, you can take care of it with a Cure Disease spell
or potion, or you can go to a temple ad pay for a cure. Spells and potions are
nice and portable, but they are not 100% reliable. Your best bet is to make for
a temple. Save before fast traveling! Travel to the nearest location that has a
temple--any standard temple will do. Traveling cautiously is the safest,
although if that takes too long and you die, reload that saved game and try a
reckless pace. Remember that it's only a good chance that you'll die, not a
guarantee; if you die, just keep trying.
If worse come to worst and you simply cannot survive the trip to the nearest
temple, then your only hope is to travel overland through the wilderness; walk
there manually instead of using the fast travel system. You'll have to use the
"I'm at" button on the world map to see your location as you travel; it's
difficult to find a place manually though the pointless, randomly generated
wilderness, because even if the map says your in the same pixel as the town,
those pixels represent a large area! You can also try saving and attempting to
fast travel after wandering a bit toward the town to see if you can survive a
shorter trip.
===============================================================================
|| VI.6 - Vampirism 040 ||
===============================================================================
If you do battle with a vampire, you may contract vampirism; each attack they
land on you will carry a chance of catching the disease. The next time you
rest, you will be haunted by nightmares--this is to clue you in that you have
the disease. If you do not get a cure within three days, you will die...
...and be reborn a Vampire! You will awaken to find yourself in a dungeon with
all your possessions--you were dead; they buried you. Once you escape your
crypt you will be free to roam the night, prey on the innocent, and all that
jazz.
A few things you should know:
1. You take damage from sunlight and holy places! It is not constant--the
damage strikes about every five seconds--so it is possible to move around in
daylight, hopping from building to building, and run your errands. Daylight
shines from 6:00 to 18:00.
This has a few implications. For one, you cannot fast travel during the day;
fortunately, the developers were thoughtful enough to make it such that if you
travel Cautiously, you will always arrive after sunset. Also, if you are
eluding the city guards, taking sun damage will make the game think that you
have been arrested--which can make your clean getaway more difficult. On the
other hand, you're a vampire, so you may not care about your legal rep!
2. You MUST feed once a day, or you will be weakened. And by "weakened" I mean
you won't be able to rest until you kill or hurt someone. Anyone will do--
innocent town NPCs, guards, animals, etc. Anyone with blood, and you just have
to hurt them once and you'll be fine.
3. Every now and then you'll be ambushed by vampire hunters. No hard feelings,
of course, it's all just business. They won't pose much of a threat, but they
do tend to hunt in groups and to stage multiple attacks.
4. And this one is important: All your guild affiliations will be lost! You
died, remember? You can rejoin them, of course; fortunately, one month after
rejoining a guild, your previous rank will be restored.
Do realize that you will NOT be able to rejoin the Thieves Guild or Dark
Brotherhood. This is due to the way you join them--by invitation only, and you
only get one per character. If you wish to be a member of these guilds as a
vampire, you MUST ensure that you are invited to join the guild AFTER your
transformation. That means no murdering or thieving until you are successfully
a member of the blood-sucking population.
There are, of course, perks to being a creature of the night. They are:
1. Your get +20 to all your attributes (except Intelligence) to a maximum of
100. WOW! As far as attribute bonus points are concerned: you just leveled up
28 times.
2. You also get +30 to the following skills: Stealth, Running, Jumping,
Climbing, Hand to Hand, and Critical Strike--and these CAN go over 100.
3. Furthermore, you'll get extremely cheap versions of Levitate, Charm Mortal,
and Calm Humanoid spells added to your spellbook. You will also gain additional
spells depending on the area where you were afflicted with vampirism.
4. You are rendered completely immune to disease and paralysis.
So you can see that being a Vampire has some serious advantages along with some
serious side effects. Being cut off from the daylit world can make shopping and
some guild relations difficult, but it does open up a whole new side to the
game for you to enjoy.
--- Getting Cured:
OK, so you're tired of being a vampire; maybe it just wasn't all it was cracked
up to be. Whatever. There are two ways to stop cure yourself:
1. Sometimes the vampire hunters will offer to cure you; do the quest and
you'll be fine and living again in no time.
2. One of the quests you can do for Witch Coven involves you delivering a
certain potion--that potion will cure both vampirism and lycanthropy! Take that
lovely draught for yourself and drink to your health.
===============================================================================
|| VI.7 - Lycanthropy 041 ||
===============================================================================
The other special disease is Lycanthropy. With this condition, you can
shapeshift into a ferociously powerful beast and wreck havoc on the populace
and your enemies. There are two werecreatures you can turn into: a werewolf and
a wereboar. They have all the same properties and the form you get depends on
the creature that gave you the disease. The wereboars look and sound stupid, so
be sure it's a werewolf that gives you the disease.
As with Vampirism, you'll get a nightmare the first night after you get the
disease, and if you do not cure it within three days, you will become a
lycanthrope!
Being a lycanthrope isn't quite as life changing as being a vampire:
1. You will change involuntarily during each night of the full moon. You will
not be able to revert to human forum until morning.
2. You cannot use items or access your inventory at all while shapeshifted.
This also means you cannot loot any bodies.
3. You MUST eat an innocent person each month or your maximum amount of health
will be reduced to four hit points. Once you feed, your health will return to
normal, so eat up!
5. Werewolf hunters, and they function exactly like the vampire hunters do.
But there are the advantages:
1. You get +40 to Strength, Endurance, Agility, and Speed, to a max of 100.
2. You also get +30 to Running, Jumping, Climbing, Swimming, Stealth, Critical
Strike, and Hand to Hand--and these can go over 100.
3. You cannot use weapons, but your claws are serious death dealers.
4. While shapeshifted, you can only be harmed by Silver or better weapons. On
a related note, the city guards and all but the highest level monsters hit with
nothing but iron or steel. This makes you all but invulnerable while shifted!
Don't forget that magic can still hurt you, of course.
5. You will be given a spell called "Lycanthropy" which will allow you to
shift to and from your beast form at will. You can cast it at any time--outside
the nights of the full moon, of course.
Being a lycanthrope can add a little pizazz to your game, and won't get in your
way much at all--not nearly as much as vampirism. Seriously, the side effects
are practically nothing at all, and you get some serious perks. Even the stat
boosts alone are worth it; and as a plus, you can turn into a furry instrument
of death any time you want.
--- Getting Cured:
Being cured of Lycanthropy is done exactly as for Vampirism, although the quest
the hunters give you is different--and a little disturbing.
===============================================================================
|| VII - The Main Story 042 ||
===============================================================================
Ah, and finally we get to the main story of Daggerfall. To tell the truth, I
don't even know why I am including the main story for this guide; the majority
of people who play this game immediately ignore the main quest and run off to
do their own adventuring, to make their own story for their character. And for
the most part, they really aren't missing that much. You won't find any special
items that you can't find elsewhere, nor will the main quest affect your guild
reputations in any way--except negatively, if you abandon your duties to pay
more attention to the main story.
Of course, we'll tackle the main quest anyways. It has a very good storyline,
interesting characters, and the only hand-crafted dungeons in the game. But for
most people, the meat of the game is in doing their own thing; joining the
guilds, doing some crime, and exploring the 99% of the gameworld that the main
quest simply doesn't touch.
If you watched the opening video, then you know that the Emperor has sent you
to Daggerfall for two reasons: one, the more important task, he says, is to
investigate the late King Lysandus's haunting of his former kingdom. Secondly,
he also wishes you to learn the whereabouts of a certain letter of his that
went missing.
Unfortunately, your vessel is shipwrecked and you find yourself trapped in a
landslide. You awaken to find yourself in a cave--the Privateer's Hold. We went
over how to escape this dungeon in the Character Creation section of the guide.
* I said this during character creation, but I'll say it again. In order to
complete the main quest, You must be able to do one or both of the following:
1. Levitate, which is a Thaumaturgy spell, or
2. Jump and Climb well.
* Do note that these quests are not linear; the main story is told through a
few seemingly independent stories, which you can do in almost any order.
* Many quests have level requirements, so if a particular person isn't giving
you the time of day when they should be giving you a quest, go practice your
skills and level up a bit.
* Most people you will interact with throughout the course of the main quest
will be located in the castles of each of the three main kingdoms of the Illiac
Bay: Daggerfall, Wayrest, and Sentinel. If you speak to ANYONE in any of those
castles and they offer you a quest--DO IT! It may be part of the main story,
and if you refuse the quest, you may kill your chances of completing the story.
For reference, the people to look out for are:
Castle Daggerfall: Cyndassa, Mynisera, Queen Aubk-i
Castle Wayrest: Princesses Elysana and Morgiah, Prince Helseth, Queen Barenziah
Castle Sentinel: Prince Lhotun, Queen Akorithi
The main quest is all too easy to botch up completely, so be careful!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
01. Meeting Lady Brisienna 043
Level Req: None
Quest Req: None
A few weeks after you begin the game, you will receive a letter from Lady
Brisienna; she is another agent of the Emperor, and knows of your task. In her
letter, she asks you to meet with her to discuss the current situation and
where to begin your investigations. She'll give you one month.
If you do not meet with her by the end of that month, she will send you another
letter saying that she has extended her stay for one additional month, and she
threatens to report your uncooperation to the Emperor if you do not meet with
her. Keep in mind that if you refuse meet with Lady B, you will be marked a
traitor to the Emperor, and you will be unable to continue with the main quest
--as in, you lose! If you do plan on going ahead with the story, you must meet
with this woman.
The tavern she chooses to stay in is selected at random, but will be within the
kingdom of Daggerfall. The gist of the meeting is that you should go ask around
at the three main kingdoms of the bay--Daggerfall, Wayrest, and Sentinel--and
see what they know.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This is where the story splits up. There are a few different ways to really
begin the main quest, and they branch and reconnect as they go along. Some of
the quests are even optional. Of the 24 quests for the main story, only 18 are
absolutely required. Here's the basic breakdown:
*** Part I - The Missing Letter ***
2. Morgiah's Letter 3. Cyndassa's Brother
| |
| |
| |
| 4. Finding the Courier
| |
| |
+------>------>------>------+
| |
| |
5. The Lich's Soul 6. The Letter Retrieved
| |
| |
+------<------<------<------+
| |
| |
| 7. What is the Mantella?
|
|
|
End Part I
*** Part II - Lysandus's Revenge ***
8. A Missing Prince
|
|
+-----<-----+----->-----+
| |
| |
9. The Painting 11. Seeking Medora
| |
| |
| |
| 12. Breaking the Curse
| |
| |
| |
10. The Underking 13. The Dust of Restful Death
| |
| |
+----->-----+-----<-----+
|
|
14. Lysandus's Tomb
|
|
|
15. Woodborne Hall
|
|
|
End Part II
*** Part III - Numidium Reborn ***
Part I Part II
| |
| |
+--->---+---<---+
|
|
16. The Totem
|
|
|
17. Decisions
|
|
|
18. The Mantellan Crux
|
|
|
The End
*** Optional Quests ***
19. Blackmail --- OR --- 20. Elysana's Gift
|
|
|
21. A Book for Barenziah
22. The Madness of Nulfaga
|
|
|
23. Mynisera's Letters
24. Elysana's Trap
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| *** Part I - The Missing Letter *** |
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
02. Morgiah's Letter 044
Level Req: 3
Quest Req: None
After you hit 3rd level, you should receive a letter from Morgiah, princess of
Wayrest--actually, you should receive a number of letters, hers is one of them.
She knows something of the Emperor's letter, and will give you that information
if you do a task for her; get used to this sort of arrangement, nobody will
give you information for free. Morgiah is up by the thrones with her cat.
Her task is to deliver a letter to the King of Worms, a powerful necromancer
and without a doubt the coolest character in the game. To find him, make your
way to the Dragontail Mountains, which lie in the southeast corner of the world
map. His lair is called the Scourg Barrow.
When you enter the Scourg Barrow, you will find nothing but a small room with
seven coffins; open the second coffin from your left to find the secret passage
--well, secret pitfall is more descriptive. Because you'll have to come back
out this way, be sure to leave a Teleportation anchor in this entry chamber if
you cannot Levitate or Climb--of course, you could drop an anchor regardless
just to make life easier.
You will drop down into a passage that will lead to a room with a few zombies
and many doors. Kill or avoid the zombies, and leave out the door to the left
of the one you entered through. Follow this passage to the end, and through the
door. If you take a left at the fork, you will find yourself in a cavernous
passage. Follow the slope downward, and take the first right. The passage
should quickly become paved, and you will find a passage and door to your left.
Pick or bash open the door and try to not to freak out, for the King of Worms's
lair is filled with no less than two Ancient Liches and a Vampire Ancient,
along with a few scantily clad dancers and dudes with wicked halberds.
Fortunately for you, they won't attack unless provoked. The KoW himself is up
on the dais, next to the coffin. Talk to him and he'll give you a reply letter
for Morgiah. This puts you on good terms with the King of Worms.
To get out, go back the way you came in--which is easiest if you left an anchor
at the entryway. You'll have to levitate or climb out of the coffin; if you
want to climb, the only scalable wall is the North one. If you can't climb or
levitate, the developers were thoughtful enough the enchant the nearby tapestry
to cast levitate on you.
Return to Morgiah at Castle Wayrest and she will tell you that the Orc Chief
Gortwog has the letter. She directs you to seek out Mynisera, the dowager queen
of Daggerfall and wife of the late King Lysandus, about this matter; Morgiah
advises you to approach the queen through her handmaid, Cyndassa.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
03. Cyndassa's Brother 045
Level Req: 5
Quest Req: None
Handmaid to Queen Mynisera, Cyndassa can be found in Castle Daggerfall. Her
room is on the left side of the grand staircase that leads to the thrones. She
will put in a good word for you with Mynisera if you do her a small favor:
Cyndassa wants a particular werewolf killed.
The werewolf will be located in a randomly selected dungeon in Daggerfall. As
such, I can't help you find the poor beast, but you'll get a message when you
kill the right one. Return to Cyndassa when you are finished.
It turns out, of course, that the werewolf wasn't just any werewolf, but
Cyndassa's own brother. She wanted to put him out of his misery and prevent him
from hurting anyone. Whatever. The important part is the deed is done.
Cyndassa will reveal that the Emperor's letter was mistakenly delivered to
Queen Aubk-i instead of Mynisera. She will also recommend you to Mynisera.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
04. Finding the Courier 046
Level Req: 5
Quest Req: 03. Cyndassa's Brother
You'll find Mynisera in Castle Daggerfall, in the room on the right side of the
grand staircase. Curious about why the letter was not delivered properly, she
will send you on a mission to track down the courier. This is somewhat of a
wild goose chase, as Mynisera will send to you one person, who will inform you
that the courier is expected to be in a certain town on a certain day; your
task is to intercept him on that day. Keep in mind that the date for his
arrival given to you in the quest dialog may be different from that of your
logbook; if that is the case, go with your logbook.
The courier will inform you that the letter was simply addressed to the Queen
of Daggerfall. Of course, while Mynisera was queen when the Emperor wrote the
letter, Lysandus died in the meantime and Gothryd and Aubk-i were in charge
when the letter was delivered. Hence the confusion.
That's it! This may not seem like an important errand, but it will all fit
together soon enough.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
05. The Lich's Soul 047
Level Req: 7
Quest Req: 02. Morgiah's Letter
After you reach level 7 and have completed Morgiah's quest to deliver the
letter to the King of Worms, you will receive a...message from him. An odd
fellow, the King of Worms contacts you by sending a zombie after you; after you
kill it, you'll find a note stitched into the zombie's flesh. Sick, but
effective! Zombie post is the only way to go.
The necromancer has a task for you, so it's back to the Scourg Barrow to talk
it over. If you don't remember how to get there, refer back to Quest 02. The
King informs you that there is a certain lich lurking around the bowels of
Castle Sentinel; your task is to kill it and trap its soul for the King of
Worms. Don't worry, you don't need a soultrap spell or soulgem to do this
quest; he'll give you a special scarab that will automatically trap the lich's
soul.
As the lich is in Castle Sentinel, that's your next stop. For ease of escape,
drop a teleportation anchor somewhere. You'll have to find your way to the
dungeon entrance from within the Castle itself. From the grand entry chamber,
go straight through the door on the back wall into the garden. Go through the
door on the far right corner of the room, and up the elevator. Follow that
passage up to the throne room. From there, go through the first door on your
right, straight through to the next door, and down the elevator.
What follows is an extremely long corridor, during which you will notice the
music change tunes. You are now in the dungeon of Castle Sentinel.
Keep following the passage as it twists around and take the turn on your left.
Then follow that as it descends a little. You will pass a lantern and then a
torch; immediately after the torch, turn left. Follow the passage around to the
elevator; the elevator will not stop for it, but you will want to get off at
the first opening. Follow the passage and pull the lever you find in the room.
Then return to the elevator and ride it to the top of the shaft.
You will enter a room filled with blue bars. The obviously important door with
the tapestries that is caged off leads to your final destination and the lich.
To go there, we'll have to lower the bars, which currently block off every door
in the room save for two: the one you entered through and one other, so exit
through that other door, which is on the West wall, and ride the elevator you
find to the bottom.
Do not pull the lever by the elevator, but instead follow the passage to the
right and take that elevator to the second opening; kill the critter, then
follow the next elevator to the top. Going north will take you back to the blue
bar room, which is currently blocked off, so go East and follow the passage
until you find a lever. Pull that lever and return to the elevator, going North
this time into the blue bar room.
You will find a new door has been opened, directly across from you, so go
through it and down the elevator. You will find yourself in a torture chamber
with a lever. Pull the lever and return to the blue bar room.
Now go straight through the blue bar room to the previous elevator (left door on
the South wall) and ride it to the bottom, around the bend, and take the second
elevator to the bottom. If you go to the right, you will see that the bars are
no longer blocking that passage, so go that way. Pull the lever you find and
ride the elevator to the top.
You will find yourself back at the Blue Bar room, except that the cage is gone.
Go through the tapestry door, and follow the passage to its end, where you will
find the lich. Remember that he can only be harmed by mithril weapons or
better, or by magic. Once he is disposed of and his soul siphoned into the
scarab, return to the King of Worms for your reward.
Your reward is that the King of Worms tells you about the Underking, who is
Zurin Arctus, the Imperial Battlemage who aided Tiber Septim in his conquest of
Tamriel. Septim betrayed Zurin, for reasons you will discover, but the
battlemage managed to live on in an undead state, and eventually became known
as the Underking.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
06. The Letter Retrieved 048
Level Req: 5
Quest Req: 02. Morgiah's Letter, 04. Finding the Courier
Now that Morgiah has informed you that the Emperor's letter is in the hands of
Gortwog, and Mynisera is aware of her missing letter and how it went astray,
it's time to go get the damn thing. If you talk to Mynisera, she will send you
with a letter to Gortwog, who lives in Orsinium. You'll find Orsinium north of
Wayrest on the world map. Gortwog himself will be in the back of the entrance
chamber
In her letter, Mynisera asks Gortwog to return the letter; in return she will
aid him in his attempts to secure a sovereign nation for the orcs. Gortwog
complies with this by allowing you to poke around Orsinium and find the letter
yourself. Jerk.
Go through the left door at the back of the entrance chamber. From here, it's a
forkless path for quite a while. At the first intersection you come to, turn
left. The path will be a straight shot for a while, but eventually you will
come to a huge open chamber with a pyramidlike structure in the middle.
You want to get up to the top balcony. You can either levitate yourself up
there, or it just so happens that jumping into those fountains in the corners
will teleport you around. The one you want is the fountain in the Northeast
corner.
Once you are on the balcony, follow the left staircase up and follow the right
wall until you come to a door. Enter the door and continue to follow the right
wall until you come to another door. Follow the passage through two cavelike
areas, and continue to follow the right wall until the passage ends at a door.
Go through the door and take an immediate left, following the passage until it
opens up into a large room with--get this--a letter on a pedestal! Once you
have the letter, go back the way you came in, or teleport if you thought ahead.
Now we finally get to see what the Emperor wanted to tell Mynisera, what secret
that was so important that he sent his trusted agent all the way to Daggerfall
to investigate and retrieve. The letter tells that the Totem of Tiber Septim
has been recovered by a certain Lord Woodborne of Wayrest, and that Mynisera
should use her influence to persuade him to return the Totem to the Emperor.
Now you have to ask yourself: What is this Totem, and what did Tiber Septim do
with it? More importantly, who else knows the contents of this letter?
Be sure to return the letter to Mynisera, so she can finally get her mail.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
07. What is the Mantella? 049
Level Req: None
Quest Req: 06. The Letter Retrieved
This isn't really a quest, but after you retrieve the Emperor's letter, you
will receive letters from certain factions--assuming they like you enough. The
letter will tell about Numidium, a massive brass golem that Tiber Septim used
to conquer Tamriel centuries ago. Numidium is controlled by whoever possesses
the Totem.
If any faction really likes you, then you will also get letters with
information about the Mantella, which is a magical gem that powers Numidium;
without the Mantella, both the Totem and Numidium are useless.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| *** Part II - Lysandus's Revenge *** |
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
08. A Missing Prince 050
Level Req: 5
Quest Req: None
Once you hit level 5, you should receive a letter from Prince Lhotun of
Sentinel. You will find him in the grand entry chamber of Castle Sentinel. He
has information for you, and just like everyone else, he asks you to do him a
favor first. Lhotun tasks you to investigate the death of his older brother,
Arthago, because he does not believe the official story of a sudden illness
claiming his brother's life.
Ask around and you'll find some interesting stuff, but after a few days or weeks
you will receive a letter from an agent of the Underking, advising you to
investigate a certain dungeon for clues about the missing prince. The dungeon
is randomly selected, so you're on your own in finding whatever there is to
find (it's a letter).
Return your findings to Lhotun and he will tell you about Lysandus's love
affair with the sorceress Medora Direnni, and to seek her out for information
about his death. Unfortunately, after Lysandus's death his wife, Mynisera,
banished Medora from the court of Daggerfall; she fled to her tower on the Isle
of Balfeira, which was subsequently cursed by Lysandus's mother, Nulfaga,
locking Medora in her tower and infesting it with all sorts of undead
creatures. If you are to speak to her, you'll have to fight your way up to her.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
09. The Painting 051
Level Req: 5
Quest Req: 08. A Missing Prince
Some time after Lhotun's quest you will receive a letter from his mother, Queen
Akorithi, bidding you to come see her. She has a task for you, as I sure you
have guessed. No, she isn't offering information, just gold. The task is to
break into Castle Wayrest and bring her a certain item--a painting, but it's a
special painting, as you will soon see.
Make your way to Castle Wayrest, and if you don't have a Teleportation spell
(what have you been thinking?) get one. This dungeon happens to be full of
teleporters, so it's not just a simple matter of retracing your steps to get
back out. I'll go over how to leave anyways, but it's just easier for you if
you teleport.
It wouldn't hurt to have a water walking/breathing spell as well.
Anyways, on to Castle Wayrest. Just for kicks, be sure to click on the creepy
moaning kid in the entryway. What a weirdo! Drop an anchor, then make you way
into the Great Hall behind the throne room, through the huge doors. From there,
make your way through the door on the North wall--the guards will probably
try to attack you at this point; feel free to kill them. Once through the door,
turn left and follow the passage to a room filled with coffins. You will see a
brick wall in the corner--this is a teleporter, so step into it.
You will be transported to a room with another brick wall, which will lead
you to another room and another brick wall. Ignore the lever in the second
room. The final teleporter will send you to a torture chamber; exit through the
door and take a right, through another door and make your way to the South.
Follow the passage until you run into a door, which will be facing West. It
will open up into a large water-filled canal. Go around the canal to the
far West side, where you will see a board lying across the water. drop into
the water. You will see a small tunnel to the East, which you will have to duck
to get into. Crawl through the opening and then up, out of the water and
through the door.
At the top of the stairs you will find a window-like structure blocking your
path. Believe it or not, but you'll have to squeeze through that window to
proceed. SAVE YOUR GAME! You'll probably end up getting stuck in the window or
falling into the void a few times. The best way to get through it is to duck
and then climb through the opening; it can take a few tries to get right.
Once you are through the window, follow the passage and take the third door you
come to, which will be facing West. Follow the passage, taking the first left,
and then continuing on until you come to the big room with--hey, a painting!
You can "use" it to look at it. You'll see something interesting if you do.
At this point, it's time to teleport away and report to Queen Akorithi back in
Sentinel. If for whatever silly reason you neglected to lay an anchor somewhere
that you can teleport back to, here's how to get out:
Retrace your steps all the way back to where you last teleported. From that
room (the torture chamber) exit through the door, and this time go left into
the other room. In there you will find a secret door on the West wall. The door
leads to an oddly textured, narrow corridor with very large stairs. The path
will fork and you will see a wheel to the right. Spin that wheel and continue
on your way.
Eventually you will come to a room. Exit through the door on your left and then
into the room across the hall, where you will find a teleporter. The teleporter
will send you to a room with a fountain (you'll actually appear on top of the
fountain). Exit and follow the passage until you see a door on your left, which
will lead to a room with a final teleporter.
If you look to the South wall you will see a secret door which will take you
through a tunnel to a door. Through the door, take a left and follow the stairs
up to a room, and then through the door to the South. Did the music just
change? That means your back in Castle Wayrest, and out of the dungeon. Follow
the left wall until you reemerge at the Great Hall. Don't forget that the
guards still want you to kill them.
Report back to Akorithi and give her the painting. She'll ask you if you
looked at the painting; feel free to lie to her.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
10. The Underking 052
Level Req: 8
Quest Req: 09. The Painting
This quest begins with you receiving a letter from an agent of the Underking,
asking you to meet him in a tavern in Sentinel. There, you will learn that the
King of Worms has placed a cursed item in Castle Llugwych in the kingdom of
Ykalon. The castle is a stronghold for the Blades, so your task is to remove it
before it can do harm.
Upon entering the castle, you will find yourself in a room with a few odd
looking columns with heads. Proceed through the West door, through the room,
and West again into a hallway. Follow the passage and take the first door you
come to, on your left. Take a left and again, take the first door you come to,
this time on your right. Pass through the room into the hallway.
Follow the passage, going left at each of the two four-way intersections, and
continue until you go South straight through a door. Continue going straight
and take a left at the intersection. The passage will end at a South facing
door.
Go through the door and East, following the passage until it comes to an
elevator. Past the elevator are two rooms, each with a switch. Pull both and
then ride the elevator to the top. From there, follow the passage to the right.
The rooms that follow are chock full of nasty critters, but they are guarding
the cursed item, so through them you must go.
Once you have the item, retrace your steps or teleport out. Then report back to
the agent of the Underking. He'll remove the curse, let you keep the item, and
then mark the location of Lysandus's tomb on your map. It's in Menevia.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
11. Seeking Medora 053
Level Req: 8
Quest Req: 08. A Missing Prince
Taking Prince Lhotun's advice, it's time to go see Medora about her knowledge
about Lysandus's death and haunting. The path through her tower is not
pleasant. You'll find Direnni Tower near the center of the Isle of Balfeira,
which is the string of islands in the middle of the Illiac Bay.
It would be wise to drop a teleportation anchor near the entrance to the tower.
Once inside the tower, you will see the passage ahead deadends. Open the door
next to you and enter the great staircase chamber. Go down the steps, across,
and climb the second staircase to the first landing. You will see a wheel;
give it a turn and return to the dungeon entrance. You will see that the hall
that was a deadend is now open.
Follow the hall through a door and then make an immediate right, walking
through a passage with a few vertical support beams, and enter the room at the
end. Here, you will find a torture chamber with an odd brick wall. That brick
wall is actually a teleporter. By walking into it, you will transported into a
flooded room piled with crates. Exit through the door and climb the stairs
into the next room.
You will find another brick wall in this room. Clicking on it will transport
you into the next area. If you exit through the door to the left of the green
tapestry, you will find yourself in a large chamber with a pyramid in the
middle. Your target is to reach the balcony; you can levitate their yourself if
you have the spell. For those without levitation spells: if you walk straight
up the slope, you will see a chain dangling from the balcony; click on it, and
it will cast levitation on you.
Float up to the balcony and follow the staircase on the left. Follow the right
wall, and enter the door. Go straight and you will enter an oddly shaped,
mazelike area. Follow the right wall until you come to a torch, then go
straight West. Just before the path veers to the left, you will see passages on
your left and right sloping downward. Follow either one (they meet up at the
same place) and follow the stairs down.
And it's puzzle time! If you look to your left, you will see a column with four
levers on it. If you go south and go through the door by the tapestry, you'll
come to the puzzle itself. The levers move the walls in that area, and only by
pulling the right ones will you be able to pass through the series of chambers.
Muck around them if you like, but the levers to pull are the ones with
tapestries opposite them (the East and West ones). Pull them, and proceed to
the south, through the puzzle room, and follow the passage straight up to
Medora's room.
If you speak to Medora, she will ask you to help her lift the enchantment
Nulfaga placed on her tower. If you will help her, she will help you lay
Lysandus's spirit to rest. Unfortunately, the task involves you leaving the
tower, finding an item, and then returning all the way through this dungeon
again to give it to her. So I hope you enjoyed this trip--you'll be doing it
again shortly!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
12. Breaking the Curse 054
Level Req: 10
Quest Req: 11. Seeking Medora
In order to break the spell over Direnni Tower, you'll have to go to Nulfaga's
castle, Shedungent, in the Wrothgarian Mountains. You are looking for a Great
Unicorn Horn, which Medora can use to dispel the curse laid on her.
If you have already done the optional Quest 22. The Madness of Nulfaga, then
you already know the shortcut into Nulfaga's chamber. If you haven't done Quest
21, then you might as well drop by Castle Daggerfall and talk to Queen Aubk-i;
you're going to walk right by Nulfaga anyways, so you might as well accomplish
both quests as once!
If you haven't been to see Nulfaga yet and don't know the shortcut into and out
of her chamber--and don't want it revealed right now--then you'll find the
walkthrough for finding Nulfaga under Quest 22. For now, we'll use the shortcut
that you'll learn the first time you meet the crazy old bat.
Once in Shedungent, walk straight ahead and click on the banner by the door.
Answer "shut up" and the door will open for you. You're now back in Nulfaga's
chamber; feel free to say hello and get your daily recommended dosage of
nonsensical rambling, but our real business is straight through the chamber
into the passage on the North side.
Continue along the passage, going up and down a flight of stairs, and then
follow the passage to the left at the first intersection, up some more stairs.
You will come to a four-way junction, take a left and follow the passage around
until you see a torch on the left wall. Click on it and then take the next
left. Follow the right wall around the bend and you will come to a room.
It may look like a dead end, but there is actually a secret door on the South
wall. You can recognize it by the mismatched texture. Beyond is a small room
with the Horn on the bed. Snatch it up and return to Medora.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
13. The Dust of Restful Death 055
Level Req: 10
Quest Req: 12. Breaking the Curse
About one month after you free Medora, she will contact you in a vision. She
tells you that Gortwog knows the location of the Dust of Restful Death, which
can help calm the spirit of Lysandus. If you go to Gortwog, he will tell you
where the dust is located--in a nearby dungeon, selected at random. So you are
on your own once again. Gortwog may not make this clear, but you are actually
looking for a mummy that is carrying the dust.
Once you have the dust, which accompanied by a letter from Gortwog, take it
back to Medora. Yes, in her tower. Again. She will require a month to prepare
the dust for use, so you'll have to leave Direnni Tower and return after a
month has passed. You'll probably be happy to know that once you have the
refined dust, you won't ever have to retrace your steps through that damn tower
ever again!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
14. Lysandus's Tomb 056
Level Req: 10
Quest Req: 10. The Underking, 12. Breaking the Curse
So you have the Dust of Restful Death, and Medora has prepared it for use. Now
you just have to find Lysandus's tomb. There are only two ways to get the
location. Once is by completing Quest 10. The Underking, the other by doing the
optional Quest 23. Elysana's Trap. Since you have to do Quest 10 anyways, it
might as well be that one.
So his tomb is in Menevia, as I'm sure you now know, so go there. It's time to
pacify this vengeful ghost and see just what it would take to shut him up
permanently. Considering he was murdered, I'm sure you can guess what he wants.
This is a heck of a long trek. Be sure to drop a teleportation anchor near the
entrance; it will make leaving so much easier. At the back of the entrance
chamber with all the statues, take the left door. Follow the left wall until
you go through a door. Then follow the passage until you see a floating skull.
Clicking on the skull will teleport to another area.
Go through the door in front of you, and follow the passage. At the first
intersection, take a right. Watch out for the pitfall at the top of the ramp,
and follow the passage until you pass through a door. Turn left, and then take
a right at the next two intersections. At the third, which you should approach
pointing South, go East.
Once you pass through the door, take a right. Follow the passage, turning only
when the passage turns, and you will eventually come to a door on your left.
Take the door, which will lead to an area with a different tileset.
At the next two intersections, take a left, and then a right. Follow the
passage through a door and a small room. After the small room, follow the
passage straight through and take the second door on your left; it will be
facing East.
Follow the passage. It's a long one. At the second intersection, turn right.
Then take a left at the next one. The passage will end at an elevator, which
you should ride to the bottom. Then follow the passage all the way around; once
you are facing North, take the second door you pass and ride the elevator down
to the bottom. Down there you will find a room with a lever; pull it and ride
back up to the top and continue along the passage until you end at a door.
You are now in Lysandus's Tomb! Go through the opened hatch in the Southeast
column; there you will find a switch. Once you pull it the floor of the main
chamber will begin to lower, so after you pull it quickly run over so you can
ride it down to the bottom.
Click on Lysandus's Coffin, and you will automatically use the Dust of Restful
Death to calm him enough to speak to you (this is a cutscene). He will tell
you that his murderer was Lord Woodborne of Wayrest, and he seeks vengeance on
him. Considering a certain "W" has been sending assassins after you, I don't
think you'll mind taking care of this for the late king.
Getting out is a pain. At this point, you should just teleport back out.
Otherwise: facing Lysandus, if you click on the first statue to the left of
his little area, the floor will begin to raise again. From there, you'll have
to retrace your steps all the way back to the room the skull teleported you to.
On the Northern wall, you'll find a well-masked secret door that will lead to
another skull, which will teleport near the entrance.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
15. Woodborne Hall 057
Level Req: 10
Quest Req: 14. Lysandus's Tomb
We know you did it, Woodborne. And we know where you live, too. It's time to
deal out some sweet, sweet vengeance. There are actually two ways of doing
this. You can either find and kill Woodborne yourself, or you can find his
letter confessing the crime, take it to King Eadwyre of Wayrest and let him
execute Woodborne for you. Both tasks begin at Woodborne Hall in Wayrest.
The dungeon opens into the grand entry. You'll see disconnected pieces of a
great ramp that leads up to the upper level, and normally you would have to go
running around looking for the four switches to move the ramp into position.
Well, not today; I've told before that you have to be able to climb or levitate
to finish the main quest; while this isn't quite one of those necessary
moments, you should have the skills anyways. So let's put them to the test.
Method one: just levitate yourself up there! Why waste time moving ramps around
when you can fly? Seriously!
Method two: you can also climb up, but it takes a little trick to do. You see,
if you sidestep while climbing, you will fall in that direction. This means
that if you climb up the wall next to the ramp, once you are above it you can
sidestep in that direction, causing you to fall onto the ramp. So what you need
to do is look up on the North wall and see where the right edge of the ramp is.
You should be able to follow the line of the bricks on the wall and position
yourself such that you can climb up right next to the ramp. Now climb! You
should be close enough to the ramp that you will see it as you pass; once you
are above it, sidestep to the left, and you should land on the ramp. Hah!
Now that you are up, go through the door and follow the passage, turning only
when you must. You will pass through two intersections, a door, a very long
hallway, another door, and then you will come to an intersection. Here you must
make your choice: Do you go for the letter, or do you KILL WOODBORNE?
-- The Letter:
Go right at the intersection. Follow the passage until you come to a T; take a
right, and follow the passage until you come to an elevator. If you look South
of the elevator, you will see a wall blocking off the passage. If you ride the
elevator up and down and back, it will be gone. Go figure. No, you can't just
send the elevator around, you actually have to be riding on it. Congratulate
yourself on finding the oddest security system in the Bay, and go on down the
passage into the room. You'll find a few treasure piles and the letter. Take it
to Eadwyre and let him do the dirty work.
--- The Kill:
You want to kill him yourself? I don't blame you as he's probably been sending
assassins after you for quite a while. And if you did any quests for Elysana,
Woodborne's betrothed, which always turned into traps, I'm sure you're holding
more than a few grudges. Well, it's time to make like the dead king of
Daggerfall and lust for revenge!
Go straight through the intersection, and then go East at the next. Go straight
through the next intersection, and take your first left. Through the door,
follow the passage through the four-way intersection. Continue along the passage
and it will come to a T and then a fork; go left both times. After the fork,
take the first door on your right. Inside will be Lord Woodborne. Hack his ass
to pieces, and leave.
Once Woodborne is dealt with, you should see the cutscene of Lysandus thanking
you and going to his rest.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| *** Part III - Numidium Reborn *** |
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
16. The Totem 058
Level Req: 14
Quest Req: 5. The Lich's Soul, 6. The Letter Retrieved, 15. Woodborne Hall
Once you've completed the first two parts of the main quest, you should be
contacted by Lady Brisienna again, urging you to meet her at a tavern in
Wayrest. There, she'll tell you your next mission--to retrieve the Totem of
Tiber Septim!
But wait, didn't the Emperor's letter say that Lord Woodborne had it? Yes, but
remember that Queen Aubk-i read that letter, and so did Gortwog, and so did a
lot of other people. Lady Brisienna will inform you that Aubk-i had the Totem
stolen from Woodborne, and it now lies in the vault of Castle Daggerfall.
From Castle Daggerfall, go up to the thrones and take the door to the left of
King Gothryd. Follow the passage until you come to a large open chamber.
To your left you should see a floating platform extending into the room, walk
out to the end of it. Look to the Northwest; do you see the bridge that leads
to a door? You must get to that door. If you can levitate, do so.
If you cannot levitate, there is another way: Look down; you should see a small
bridge below the platform you are standing on. Drop down onto it, then go South
into the room. Immediately to your right you will see a bridge that connects to
the central tower. Cross over, enter the tower, and go up the stairs to the
next floor. Cross the bridge in front of you can go through the door.
Go West around the ledge and North to a door, then North again through another
door. You are now in the vault! Go down to the very bottom of the room, falling
down into the water-filled pit. From there, take the left passage on the South
wall down and turn the wheel you find there. When you return, you'll find the
vault has been lowered. Now go into the right passage on the South wall.
In there you will find three chains. The left one teleports you above the
vault (but not quite on top of it), the middle one teleports you to the ledges
beside the vault, and the right one casts waterbreathing on you. Pull the
middle one, and then either levitate or make a running jump from a high ledge
onto the top of the vault. Pull the lever you find there, which will open the
vault.
The Totem is located on the North side of the vault, in the middle chamber on
the right side. If you stand on the ledge nearby, you can just run off it into
the chamber. Snag the Totem, and get out.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
17. Decisions 059
Level Req: 14
Quest Req: 16. The Totem
Once you leave Castle Daggerfall with the Totem, you should start hearing from
the various factions competing for control of the Totem. If they like you,
they'll send you letters pleading their case; if they don't like you, they'll
send assassins instead. During this time (you have a year and a day), you must
choose one of the factions to give the Totem to--you are basically choosing who
wins the game.
Your choices are:
The Emperor, via Lady Brisienna
Gortwog and the Orcs of Orsinium
King Gothryd and Queen Aubk-i of Daggerfall
King Eadwyre and Queen Barenziah of Wayrest
Queen Akorithi of Sentinel
The Underking
The King of Worms
They all want the Totem for different reasons. Some of the factions will reward
you in some way, either in gold, items, or in some cases, betrayal. You can try
to use the Totem yourself, but that's a bad idea.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
18. The Mantellan Crux 060
Level Req: 14
Quest Req: 17. Decisions
Once you have given the Totem to the faction of choice, Nulfaga will contact
you, bidding you to see her in her castle of Shedungent. You have retrieved the
Totem of Tiber Septim, but Numidium cannot be woken without the Mantella. This
is your final quest, to venture into Aetherius, to the Mantellan Crux. Prepare
yourself for an epic dungeon, and return to Nulfaga when you wish her to
transport you to Aetherius.
Let me tell you now two important things:
1. There is only one way out of the Crux, and that is by grabbing the
Mantella. The only other way to leave this dungeon is to teleport back to an
anchor set before leaving.
2. Nulfaga will only send you to the Crux once. If you teleport out, that's
it--you lost your only chance of getting the Mantella.
You only get once chance at this, so make it count. Make sure your gear is in
shape and you have all the weapons and items you need before leaving for the
Crux.
** Remember that you ABSOLUTELY must be able to either Levitate or Climb and
** Jump well to complete this dungeon.
OK, when you're ready, go talk to Nulfaga again and she will transport you to
Aetherius. Be warned: the Mantellan Crux is one heck of an odd place!
--- Area 1: The Islands
You will materialize on a small floating island with a statue on it. If you
click on that statue, it will cast Levitate on you (isn't that nice?); quickly
rise upwards, and up to the Southeast you will see a small floating rock with a
switch on it. Pull the switch, and now descend down to the island below the
starting island.
You will see four doors floating in air. Click on the Southernmost door; it
doesn't matter if the Frost Daedra opens any or all the doors, you must click
the south door and only the south door. Floating downward, you will find a
small chamber in the Eastern side of the island; pull the switch and then float
upwards.
Up high (and I mean high) above the starting island, you will see an opening to
the Southwest; enter the opening. If your levitation starts to wear off as you
make your way to the opening, try to make it back to the starting island and
the statue will recast the spell (unless, of course, you can cast it yourself).
Once in the opening, levitate or climb up the shaft.
Follow the passage, going straight at the intersection. You will pass a set of
blue bars; pull the lever at the end of the passage to remove then, then
proceed. You will pass a few more levers. Ignore the first one; pull the
second, third, and at the end of the corridor, the fourth as well. Then return
the way you came, down the shaft and to the opening.
You must now return to the starting island, which you should barely be able to
see if you look down. If you cannot levitate, a running jump from the
threshold of the opening should do the trick. Once you are on the island,
follow the stairsteps down to the chamber within. Step onto the carpet to be
transported to the next area.
--- Area 2: The Pyramid
This part is difficult to do without levitation magic, but it is possible.
Exit the passage and ride the elevator on your right down. You will see a
graveyard area to the West Southwest. If you can levitate, float over there; if
not, you'll have to jump ship early, leaping from the elevator before it
reaches the bottom, such that you land on the graveyard.
There are three headstones that are important: The Southwesternmost and the
Easternmost each need to be clicked once and only once; they will groan at you.
The third is the Northernmost, which carries a clue.
Once that is done, fall or float down to the string of rocks and make your way
into the chamber in the side of the floating graveyard. Pull the lever you find
there, and then ride the elevator down to the bottom. Levitate over or hop
across the rocks to the elevator, and ride it to the top. It's a long ride.
Once at the top, with a nice view of the pyramid, look up to the North and you
will see an opening in the wall. Levitate up there; if you cannot levitate, you
must climb! Fortunately, you can begin a climb from a fall! Position yourself
right in front of the opening and as perpendicular to the wall as possible; use
the compass needle to face yourself as North as possible. When you walk off the
edge you will fall for a little, and then start climbing! You'll have to get
pretty close to the right point of the elevator, and it may take a few tries,
but you can do it. If you did it correctly, then you will climb right into the
opening.
Follow the passage up to the room, and talk to the man. His name and the answer
to the riddle is "Benefactor". This will open the top of the pyramid. Make your
way back to the opening, and either levitate or make a running suicide leap
onto the pyramid. Ride the elevator down. You will find a elevator in the
Northeast corner; if it is still covered with a trapdoor, then you did not
click on the Easternmost gravestone properly. Ride it down, and drop down the
shaft to your right, and then down again to exit the section; if the last shaft
is covered, then you missed the Southeasternmost gravestone.
--- Area 3: The Temple
This one is the easiest. Take a left and go out into the open chamber, and then
follow the steps to the right down to the upside-down temple. You will find a
door on the East side of the temple, open the door and pull the lever you find
there. Now repeat for the West side. OK, now go back to the front and click on
the big blue crystal.
--- Area 4: The Skulls
You are in a room surrounded by eight doors. Take the left door on the South
wall, and follow the left wall until you go through a room and into a large
fiery chamber. It'd be a good idea to go ahead and drop down to the floor and
kill off the fire daedra, otherwise they'll be tossing fireballs at you all
day. Once they are killed, click on the cage to be teleported back to the room
just before the fire chamber.
Now click on the first skull to get your riddle. The basic gist is that you
need to click on the skulls who are looking inward toward the big skull. Easy
enough, the first one is West along the railing, the first skull you come to.
OK, now return to the intersection, and this time go South. The third skull
you come to should be facing inward, so click on it and continue on. That's it
for the skulls. Just continue along the railing to the end and jump in the eye
of the big skull.
Talk to Sheogorath if you want, but your destination lies down the elevator.
Oddly enough, the elevator is triggered by your movement across the floor, so
you'll want to wait for it to get to the top, them move around and jump on. At
the bottom you'll have to duck to squeeze through the door; click on the skull
and answer his riddle. If you were paying attention to the skulls, you'd have
noticed that only one was facing away from the skull, so the answer is "one".
--- Area 5: The Sword and Crossbow
You are now in a small closet and about to play Russian roulette with a bunch
of skulls. One of them opens the door, some of them make noise, some of them
teleport you, and some of them will kill you outright. Click on the right one
on the North shelf to open the door, where you will fight your way through a
spiraling passage to the end--or, if you click the middle one on the Eastern
shelf, it will teleport you to the end of the spiral. Nice!
From there, go West until you find a door, and up a lot of stairs. At the top,
climb or levitate up the shaft; if you climb, you will have to use the
sidestepping trick I showed you in Woodborne Hall. At the top of the passage
you will find another shaft; there is a passage on the North side that you need
to fall or levitate into.
Go straight North through the passage, though a secret door, and all the way to
the end, where you will find Sheogorath again. The answer to his riddle is
"crossbow". Now go back to the central shaft and fall down to the bottom.
You will find yourself on a platform next to a huge sword. Go down the hole
into the room inside, where you will find a box. Click on the left banner to
open the outer box, then click on the inner box to open it, then finally the
crystal. The island will begin to sink. Stay inside or go out to shoot at the
daedra lords. Once it has stopped sinking, you will see a large crossbow. Go
stand where the bolt would go, and then click on the left battleaxe. The
crossbow will fire, shooting you upwards. If you look down, you will see the
sword sloping back. Hop onto the sword and run up it, through the door and down
the elevator.
--- Area 6: The Mantella
This is it! You cannot get lost here; there is only one way to proceed. After
the hallway of pitfalls, you will see the Mantella. Levitate over and get what
you came here for. If you cannot levitate, then make a running jump onto the
shrine, then climb up the sides to reach the gem.
--- The End!
Congratulations! You just finished the main quest! Now sit back and watch the
cutscene; the ending is different depending on which faction you gave the Totem
to:
* If the Emperor won, he uses Numidium to reconquer the Illiac Bay and the
provinces of Tamriel, strengthening the empire.
* if the Underking won, then he sucks the energy from the Mantella and gives
himself his final rest.
* If Daggerfall, Wayrest, or Sentinel won, then they use Numidium to conquer
the other kingdoms of the bay. The empire is weakened. The Underking shows up
to destroy himself and Numidium at the last minute.
* if Gortwog won, he uses Numidium to conquer the other kingdoms of the bay
and the forces of the Emperor, but the Underking still arrives to destroy
himself and Numidium. Regardless, Gortwog secures a nation for the orcs.
* If the King of Worms won, he uses the Mantella to make himself into a god.
* If you tried to use the Totem yourself, Numidium crushes you and goes on a
rampage before the Underking shows up and blows himself and the golem up.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| *** (Optional Quests) *** |
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
19. Blackmail 061
Level Req: 4
Quest Req: None
This and Quest 20. Elysana's Gift are mutually exclusive; if you take one you
cannot do the other.
If you talk to Prince Helseth in the great hall of Castle Wayrest, he'll give
you a quest. You are to deliver a letter to Lord Castellian. Easy enough. If
you do not read it, then all goes as planned and Helseth will pay you with a
magic something or other.
If you DO read the letter, then you have to make a choice. If you give it to
Castellian, then Helseth will still pay up, but your reputation for Wayrest
will drop significantly. If you give it to King Eadwyre, your rep with Wayrest
will increase significantly. It all depends on what outcome you want.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
20. Elysana's Gift 062
Level Req: 6
Quest Req: None
This and Quest 19. Blackmail are mutually exclusive; if you take one you cannot
do the other. Anyways, head to the throne room of Castle Wayrest.
I hate this girl. She's engaged to Lord Woodborne, and every bit as conniving
and backstabbing as he is. This is in every way a trap, and you're stuck in it.
She wants you to deliver a robe to Lord Castellian (apparently she and her
brother Helseth just hate this guy); the robe, of course, is cursed.
If someone puts on the robe, it will summon Daedra Seducers to kill them. If you
put it on yourself, they will come for you--a tough fight for a level 6
character. Even if you defeat them, you fail the quest. No, you actually have to
give it to Castellian, who will of course be jumped by daedra seducers.
But wait, there's more! Not only will the Seducers attack you and Castellian,
but Castellian's guards will show up and attack you for trying to assassinate
their lord! What fun!
Once you're done, report back to Elysana so she can play the "Oh, I had no idea
that was cursed" card.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
21. A Book for Barenziah 063
Level Req: 9
Quest Req: 18. Blackmail
If you did not deliver the letter to Castellian in Quest 19. Blackmail,
Barenziah may not offer this quest to you. It begins with a letter.
You are to retrieve a book that was stolen by the orcs. Interestingly enough, if
you do not retrieve the book in time, it will be stolen by the necromancers. If
that happens, talk to Gortwog and he will tell you they have it in the Scourg
Barrow. It is much easier to get the book from Gortwog, so make your way to
Orsinium quickly.
Go through the left door at the back of the great hall. Follow the passage,
taking a left at the first intersection you come to. You will eventually come
out at a large open chamber with a pyramid.
The book is down the in the pit at the center of the room, but the doors are
magically sealed. To unseal them, you'll have to reach the upper level. If you
cannot just levitate yourself up there, go jump in the fountain in the
Northeast corner of the chamber; it will transport you to the balcony. From
there, take the left staircase. At the next few intersections, go Left, Left,
Straight, and Left again. You will find a wheel; spin that wheel and go back to
the pit and jump in. The book is through the eastern door.
To get out of the pit, you will see a wheel stuck to the north wall of the
large, open shaft. Click on it to be transported to the balcony. Take the book
back to Barenziah and get your reward.
---
If you did not get there in time, then you'll have to make your way to the
Scourg Barrow in the Dragontail Mountains. It will be easiest to leave if you
drop a teleportation anchor near the entrance.
When you enter the Scourg Barrow, you will find nothing but a small room with
seven coffins; open the second coffin from your left to find the secret passage
--well, secret pitfall is more descriptive. Drop down and follow the passage to
a room with many doors. Go through the door immediately to your left, and
follow it to a fork. At the fork, go right and follow it until you reach the
rift; you'll know it when you see it. Drop to the bottom of the rift and follow
it all the way to the end, where it changes textures.
Look on your map to see the small triangular secret door on the south side of
the rift; open the passage and follow it to a wheel. Spin the wheel and then go
across the rift to the passage opposite the secret door, and follow it to the
chamber with the book.
Now, to get out again, the best way is to teleport to the anchor you should
have set at the entrance. If for whatever sick reason you neglected to lay an
anchor, the way is rather difficult. The ONLY way to get back out is to go all
the way back to the beginning of the rift and levitate or try to climb out.
You cannot actually climb any of it, as the walls are slanted, but there are a
few places where the slope is just barely light enough for you to walk up.
Once you get out with the book, you can either give it to Gortwog or Barenziah.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
22. The Madness of Nulfaga 064
Level Req: 3
Quest Req: None
If you talk to Aubk-i, she will ask you to go check on Nulfaga, who is the
mother of Lysandus, and quite insane to boot. She lives in her Castle of
Shedungent in the Wrothgarian Mountains.
The room you are looking for is actually right in front of the entrance. The
difficulty is that to get through that door, you must know the password, which
you get from Nulfaga. If you want the password, read ahead and then click on
the banner to give your answer; otherwise, I'll walk you through the long way.
The easiest way that I know of goes like this: Go west from the entrance and
follow the passage; after some stairs, it will come to an intersection. Go West
and then South at the next branch. You will pass under a portcullis; continue
down the corridor and through the room at the end into another passage. Go West
to the end of the passage.
Do not go through the door you see, but through the one you don't see--the
secret door to the North; it blends perfectly into the wall, but your map will
still show it. Follow the passage until you pass through a door. Go East at the
intersection and then straight until you go down some stairs. Go East again,
and follow the passage until you enter Nulfaga's chamber.
Talk to her and she will babble about some nonsense. The only useful thing she
says is to "shut up the door", which tells you that the password for the
shortcut is "shut up". The next time you come back (and you will), just click
on the banner and give the password for a quick entry.
Once you've talked to her, report back to Aubk-i for a few gold.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
23. Mynisera's Letters 065
Level Req: 3
Quest Req: 21. The Madness of Nulfaga
Well, you helped out Aubk-i with Nulfaga, now she wants you to dig up some dirt
on Mynisera. You are to go to Mynisera's castle and find some letters she has
left there. The dungeon is supposed to be random, but for whatever reason it
almost always picks Castle Necromoghan. Nevertheless, the location within the
castle is still random, so you're still on your own for this one.
Snag the letters, which turn out to be nothing of any real importance, other
than to show that Mynisera has had dealings with the orcs.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
24. Elysana's Trap 066
Level Req: None
Quest Req: 06. The Letter Retrieved
Ah, she's back with another quest/trap. This time, however, the target is you.
You are to escort her "cousin" to another town. Easy enough, really, except
that you'll be jumped by assassins everywhere you go until you ditch the girl.
The only reason to take this, unless you just like assassins ambushing you, is
to get the location of Lysandus's Tomb. If you screwed up Quest 10. The
Underking, then this is the only way to get the location; one of the assassins
will have a note with the location.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
END OF GUIDE
Questions? Comments? Corrections?
Contact me at:
Jormungandr83@gmail.com
Date completed: 27 Sept, 2007
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Legal Junk:
Copyright 2007 Matt Smith
This may be not be reproduced under any circumstances except for personal,
private use. It may not be placed on any web site or otherwise distributed
publicly without advance written permission. Use of this guide on any other web
site or as a part of any public display is strictly prohibited, and a violation
of copyright. Yada yada yada.
All trademarks and copyrights contained in this document are owned by their
respective trademark and copyright holders.